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Seibold boosted by chairman's support and Dearden inclusion
Joel Gould
NRL.com Reporter
Wednesday 22nd July, 2020
Anthony Seibold has been buoyed by the public support of Broncos chairman Karl Morris and has outlined why he is confident teenage half Tom Dearden is ready to take on the Storm.
After the club's annual general meeting on Tuesday, Morris said "Anthony Seibold is our coach and will be until the end of the season".
Those words gave Seibold clear air to turn around the dire form which has the Broncos 14th on the ladder.
Morris did add that Seibold's position, like every Broncos employee, would be reviewed at season's end. NRL.com understands that review will have a bearing on whether Seibold remains as coach in 2021.
Seibold said he was not daunted by the looming performance review.
"Performance reviews happen in clubland at the end of every single season. I have not been to a club where we don't have a review of not just the staff but the playing group and the holistic program, so that’s a given," he said.
"With regards to the support of Karl and [CEO] Paul [White], it is great to hear. Privately they have shared that support with me also.
"We are at the beginning of a pretty big job. We haven’t been good enough defensively so that is an area that we want to improve."
After the 48-0 loss to the Wests Tigers last week Seibold said he was "out of words" to describe the reasons for Brisbane's diabolical showing. That gloom has lifted.
"I have got good perspective on this. I am ready to get up and go every single day at the moment," Seibold said when asked how he was holding up personally.
"The challenge for me hasn't changed one bit from 18 months ago. I am trying to stay the course and play the long game.
"There is no doubt that some recent results have hurt us as a group and we have got to work hard to improve."
Seibold resisted calls to move Darius Boyd to fullback for Friday night's clash at Suncorp Stadium because he said his best position was in the centres alongside young players such as Herbie Farnworth.
Farnworth will start on the wing on Friday following the return of Kotoni Staggs from injury.
Dearden will start in the halves with Brodie Croft playing his usual role only with the No.6 on his back. Anthony Milford reverts to fullback.
"I wanted to get Tom Dearden into the team and I think Milly [Milford] did a pretty good job at the back end of last year playing fullback," Seibold said.
"It was important to get Tommy in to help Crofty in the halves and Milly has got a fantastic running game so hopefully we can free him up a bit.
"I think [Dearden] takes a bit of organisation off Crofty and allows Crofty to be freed up a bit which I feel is important."
Seibold said that Dearden had proven he could handle playing against the Storm after shining last year in a physical 15-8 win over the Roosters, one of the Broncos best wins of the season.
"I thought he was very good up against Cronk that particular night and showed defensive heart and grit," he said.
"Tommy did a fantastic job for us last year. I've been asked plenty of questions about when he was going to play but we wanted to make sure physically he was prepared."
Seibold hopes Staggs' return from a hamstring injury will bolster the attack.
NRL.com
