This is your weekly dose of NRL truth-telling, as tipster and rugby league raconteur Nick Tedeschi tears through the good, the bad and the indefensible, with absolutely no regard for bruised egos.
Inevitable Seibold Sacking Liberates Northern Beaches
Anthony Seibold has been sacked. His dismissal was not unexpected and not unpopular among the Manly faithful, who have wanted him gone for a long time. Much like he did at Brisbane, he arrived with the strong backing of a CEO that praised his intelligence and he has left with a once-proud club staring down the barrel of the wooden spoon, something the Broncos claimed and the Sea Eagles look every chance to.
Seibold, simply, should never have been hired and only got the job because the man rated the worst CEO in the game in a piece written in 2024 had a relationship with him and signed him to a deal when most in the game thought he would never be a head coach again after the Broncos debacle. When Mestrov was moved on late last year, the clock was ticking on Seibold, who incoming CEO Jason King has not relationship with.
The tenure that stretched through four seasons has been nothing short of a debacle. A 38-37-2 record does not tell the real story. The team made the finals just once. The side seemed at a loss in how to play, conceding 21.7ppg or more in every season. The roster – built by Seibold and Mestrov – is nothing short of a disaster with the forward pack clearly the worst in the NRL, accounting for just 28% of metres run, well below the 48% average across the NRL. Club icon Daly Cherry-Evans walked out on the club. Luke Brooks and Jamal Fogarty were signed. Forward signings have generally been ignored. Brooks was one of six Isaac Moses clients signed in the first nine months of Seibold’s run. His selections were laughably bad including not holding Brooks accountable, continually picking Corey Waddell and not having the bottle to have the hard conversation with Jake Trbojevic, that was due at the start of last season.
Perhaps the biggest shame of the whole Seibold fiasco has been the burning of the peak Tom Trbojevic years. The generational talent played from 25 to 29 under Seibold in a confusing system that was not designed to showcase his talents behind a pack that was regularly beaten.
There will be no tears for Seibold on the Northern Beaches with the anger only set to rise as the club’s devastatingly thin roster runs to a bottom four finish with an interim coach that retired less than six months back. There is no quick fix at Manly. None at all. This is a complete cluster that will take years to climb out of.
Luke Brooks Is What He Is And It’s Not Up To Scratch
It is never a good sign for a player when the crowd rattles off a Bronx cheer every time that player catches a kick off at their home ground but that is what happens with Luke Brooks, who has well and truly worn out his welcome at Manly. No half who has played over a decade of top grade football has less game sense that Brooks, who just seems inherently incapable of making the right decision. The game on Thursday turned when Manly led 10-8 and instead of kicking to a corner, he chose to run the ball on halfway. The Roosters scored minutes later. Regardless of whether Joey Walsh is ready or not, Kieran Foran needs to move on from Brooks from this week.
The Worst Butler In Television History
Chris Butler has now officially surpassed Benson DuBois as the worst butler in television history after another laughably bad weekend. Butler somehow determined that a clear kicked ball that went dead was a mutual infringement because the referee did not rule six again in the split second between the kick and the ball going dead that naturally resulted in a Roosters try. He then followed it up on Saturday with an utterly absurd penalty against the Cowboys’ Braidon Burns – which was even more idiotically sent upstairs to look at a possible penalty try – when Burns pulled out of the tackle and stood on the line in what was nothing like a penalty.
Pass Of The Century
Harry Grant’s cut out pass from dummy half on the Cowboys defensive line that presented Will Warbrick with his fourth try was perhaps the best pass ever thrown on an NRL field, a sublime shot that in a split second showcased Grant’s vision and abilities. It was pure art, like Fairytale of New York or A Confederacy of Dunces.
Nicho Fires Worst Kick Of 2026
Missed conversions in front of the posts are rare. Some would bet their life on any NRL kicker going 100% from in front. Nicho Hynes managed to defy those odds with one of the worst kicks in history when missing a conversion late against the Raiders.
The Willie M Team of the Week
This week’s team of clowns and clodhoppers:
- Clint Gutherson (Dra)
- Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (NZ)
- Reuben Garrick (Man)
- Valentine Holmes (Dra)
- Jason Saab (Man)
- Luke Brooks (Man)
- Lachlan Galvin (Bul)
- Tom Gilbert (Dol)
- Bailey Hayward (Bul)
- Jackson Ford (NZ)
- Kelma Tuilagi (Par)
- Beau Fermor (GC)
- Jaeman Salmon (Bul)
——————————– - Tallyn Da Silva (Par)
- Corey Waddell (Man)
- Luca Moretti (Par)
- Josh Kerr (Dra)
——————————–
Coach: Cameron Ciraldo (Bul)
2026 Field Goal Update – 3
Sam Walker’s meaningless field goal to end the Roosters-Sea Eagles game at a margin of 17 was meaningless to the game, meaningless to the final margin and meaningless to everything and everyone bar the total and total punters with the opening line of 48.5 going from under to over on that kick in one of the cruellest beats a punter could ever cop.
Referee Gradings
The Round 4 referee gradings:
Wyatt Raymond (D-): Castrated Manly with a 10-3 set restart/penalty count and some horrible missed calls at crucial moments including a two-on-one strip.
Adam Gee (C+): The Tigers had to overcome a horrendous count against to get the money over the Warriors.
Ashley Klein (D): No referee likes to make himself the centre of attention more.
Peter Gough (C-): Lacks gravitas, common sense and seemingly the ability to see.
Todd Smith (B-): Seemingly the most sensible official in the game.
Gerard Sutton (F): Utterly abhorrent showboating display that was as wildly inconsistent as it was manufactured.
Grant Atkins (B-): Kept a reasonable flow on things and was correct in his professional foul sin bin.
Liam Kennedy (D): An astonishing 28 penalties and set restarts in 80 minutes says it all.
Fun Fact #1
Anthony Seibold went 41-61-3 across six seasons at Brisbane and Manly.
Fun Fact #2
Manly have missed the finals in seven of the last 11 seasons. They missed seven finals between 1968 and 2014.
Fun Fact #3
Seven of the 14 non-finals seasons since 1968 at Manly have been coached by mentors who did not play for Manly.
The Coaching Crosshairs
Shane Flanagan has been given four weeks by St George Illawarra powerbrokers to turn around the club’s fortunes or he will be sacked. That is the very strong word leaking out of the Dragons as Isaac Moses stares down the barrel of having a second client rissoled. Flanagan three seasons ago said he should not be judged on how the club looks in 2024 or 2025 but by how they look in 2026. They look horrific. His fingerprints are all over the roster and it is nothing short of shameful. In what is always a sign of a selfish coach, Flanagan went and recruited three past-their-used-by date veterans to long-term big-money deals. Clint Gutherson and Valentine Holmes are beyond gone with Damien Cook the only one of the three to look anywhere near a first grader. He has refused to bring in any player resembling a first grade half to provide competition for his son Kyle. His refusal to give young talent like Jacob Halangahlu a proper run is shameful. A winger is always the scapegoat. A 0-4 start and very little excitement about the future to go with the retirement of his top media cheerleader should see his time at the club come to an end sooner rather than later with Dean Young likely to guide them for the remainder of the year and Ben Hornby favourite to take the job long-term.
Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week
There are plenty to choose from in what was a true masterpiece of bad decision making from Cameron Ciraldo but not only persisting with Jaeman Salmon but then pushing him to an edge, swapping Jacob Preston to the left side and moving Viliame Kikau to the middle for a period in the heinous loss to the Knights stood above all else. To the surprise of nobody but Ciraldo, Salmon was beaten all ends up without laying a glove on Fletcher Sharpe to concede a try. This came six minutes after he was beaten all ends up without laying a glove on Tyson Frizell to concede a try. Salmon has the lateral movement of a road train with the speed of stoned wombat yet Ciraldo keeps rolling him out under the delusional notion he can play an Isaah Yeo-like role. Enough already.
Watch It
Warren Ryan is one of the most interesting figures in the long and storied history of Rugby League. A genius who more often than not rubbed players the wrong way, the Wok was a polarising figure who has all but been ostracised from the game for a long time. Here he is at his pomp in the 1980s at his aggressive best.