Manly coach Anthony Seibold says winning this year’s grand final is not on his radar while declaring the Bulldogs favourites for Sunday’s elimination final at Accor Stadium.
The Sea Eagles haven’t won a premiership since 2011 when a fresh-faced Daly Cherry-Evans burst onto the scene to help the club claim the title in his rookie year.
Manly lost the 2013 grand final to the Roosters and it has been slim pickings ever since with Sunday’s match marking just the fourth time in the past 11 years the northern beaches club will play finals football.
Watch Anthony Seibold’s chat with NRL Tonight NOW on Kayo, with part two from Saturday 7am then repeating on Fox Sports News!
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Seibold has done some terrific work in his second season in charge after taking over from Des Hasler at the end of 2022 in unearthing new talent and unlocking the potential of seasoned players.
The club finished 11th in 2022, 12th in 2023 and seventh this season in a campaign that has seen Seibold’s men beat six of the other seven top eight sides.
Cronulla, which thumped Manly 40-20 on Sunday, remain the only top eight side the Sea Eagles haven’t got the better of.
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“This is all brand new for most of them,” Seibold told Fox League’s NRL Tonight.
“The reality of it is that you talk about the legacy of the past you’ve got to understand where this club’s come from.
“The club’s only made the play-offs three times in the last 11 years before this year so this is four times in 11 years.
“So for much of the group that haven’t played in a lot of big games this is one big step forward and it’s the first time we’ve been able to play a final in Sydney because obviously in 2021 some of the guys played in the finals it was all up in Queensland.
“So to have a stack of our supporters out there on Sunday afternoon supporting us against a really good Bulldogs side it is just fantastic to be part of that.
“But looking past that is not on our radar.”
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Seibold said Canterbury should be favourites for Sunday’s clash with more than 50,000 people, mostly Bulldogs supporters, expected at Accor Stadium.
“I don’t think we’d be favourites this week, the Bulldogs seem to be the flavour of the month at the moment,” he said.
“We’ve got great evidence that we can beat the best sides in the competition and the evidence we go back to is six of the seven best sides in the competition we’ve beaten this year.
“There’s probably not too many teams in the top eight that have that record against the best teams. The evidence is there but it’s a really narrow focus this week.”
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The Sea Eagles have won eight premierships since entering the competition in 1947, while their 13-year gap between grand final wins marks the club’s longest premiership drought since claiming their maiden title in 1972.
And despite Manly’s rich history of success, Seibold said his side were not weighed down what has come before.
“One of the things that this current group can’t get burdened by is what’s happened in the past,” he said.
“Whether that’s by a successful legacy or a not so successful legacy that doesn’t come into my thinking.
“Having lived in the area, my family have lived in the area since the end of 2015 so it’s the longest that my family have ever lived anywhere so they’re northern beaches people.
“We’ve made some real big gains over the last two years. In 2022 the club only won two games against top eight sides. In ’23 we won three games against top eight sides. And this year out of the seven other teams in the top eight, we’ve managed to beat six of those teams. Cronulla was the only team we haven’t been able to beat this year.
“Us talking about grand finals and winning comps and all that sort of stuff is not on the radar.
“I feel like the club’s moving on the right direction and I feel like we’ve got some fantastic men in our group so it’s a really narrow focus on the Bulldogs this Sunday afternoon.”
Watch Anthony Seibold’s chat with NRL Tonight now on Kayo, with part two from Saturday 7am then repeating on Fox Sports News!
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