The Wests Tigers are desperately chasing Penrith assistant Cameron Ciraldo to be their next head coach in the wake of Michael Maguire’s sacking. But Tigers gun Adam Doueihi has thrown up Anthony Seibold as a left-field coaching option to take the reins, questioning why he has fallen off the coaching radar.
Doueihi is set to feature for the first time this season after an ACL tear last August, handing the battling joint-venture club a much-needed boost when he enters off the bench against the Bulldogs on Sunday
It’s been a long road back for Doueihi, who has had to watch from the sidelines as his teammates struggled and Maguire – the man who first signed him for South Sydney then brought him to the Tigers where he had been a junior player – was sacked.
“It’s frustrating for Madge because he thought we could do better this year,” Doueihi told the Sydney Morning Herald. “It hurt not being out there. He signed me out of school to Souths, and when I was leaving Souths he got me to the Tigers.
“I have a lot of respect for him, that he saw me as a good kid and a good player. I have a lot of care for him. He’s a man, a father and a really good coach. He will find a gig and I have a lot of respect for him.”
As for who should replace Maguire in the hot seat, Doueihi had no qualms about recommending Seibold, who handed the youngster his debut at the Rabbitohs.
Doueihi told the Herald: “I don’t pick the coach, but I have had Seibs in the past [as a coach]: he gave me my debut jersey at Souths, I was a fan of his structures and systems and the way he coached. He looked after his players and I liked his methods in attack and defence.
“His name hasn’t been thrown around like the others, but he can definitely coach. He got us to the prelim finals in his first year, so he knows what he is doing.”
In his first season as a head coach, Seibold guided the Rabbitohs to third on the ladder and a 12-4 defeat in the preliminary final to the Roosters. It was enough to earn him the Daly M coach of the year award. But a switch to the Broncos didn’t pay off, with the team slumping to a horror 58-0 finals drubbing to Parramatta in 2019 then winning just three of 20 matches in 2020, earning the Brisbane club a first ever wooden spoon.
Seibold is contracted to England’s rugby union team as an assistant to fellow Australian Eddie Jones through the 2023 World Cup, which goes some way to explaining why he hasn’t been spoken about as a potential NRL head coach since his Brisbane departure.
Meanwhile, Doueihi – off contract at the end of next season – is full of determination to turn around the struggling Tigers. The gifted 23-year-old has vowed not to ‘throw in the white flag’ on the Concord club despite their recent woes.
Doueihi told the Herald: “You never want to tap out on your teammates or throw in the white flag. I love the club. I’m a local junior, and when I first signed here I said I wanted to bring success, and we haven’t done it yet. I’m really happy here and I want to bring some success.”
