The supposed beef between Anthony Seibold and Jason Demetriou appears to have been overcooked after the rival coaches praised each other ahead of Saturday’s showdown between Souths and the Sea Eagles.

The rivalry between the pair has been dredged up after comments made in 2019 resurfaced when Demetriou said teams had figured Seibold out, while the latter hit back, saying that assistant coaches should work hard and keep quiet.

Tensions were high at the time after Seibold won the race to coach the Broncos, with Demetriou working under Wayne Bennett at the Rabbitohs after he missed out on the top job in Brisbane.

Both men were asked about it on Friday morning, with Seibold admitting that he’s matured since then and a stint with the England rugby union team helped him develop as a leader.

“It’s a growth in myself as a coach and myself as a person,” he said.

“I think one of the people who really helped me with that is Eddie Jones. Spending time with Eddie for two years and seeing how he handles things (helped).

“At different times you could handle things better or differently, but I’ve moved on. All that stuff is in the past.”

While the focus is on the coaches this week, Seibold said he was more interested in seeing Tom Trbojevic and Latrell Mitchell duke it out for the first time in five years as the Sea Eagles look to continue their unbeaten start to the year.

“I’ve only met Jason once, and he seemed like a really good guy and a sharp coach,” he said.

“All that’s in the past. There were some comments made a few years ago, but I’ve got a job to do and that’s to focus on the present.

“It’s not about the coaches in any case. It’s about the players, and I think the battle between Latrell Mitchell and Tom Trbojevic is something to look forward to.”

Demetriou seemed to regret what was said in 2019 when he was still an assistant at the Rabbitohs and thinks coaches should stick together after seeing Seibold’s tumultuous exit from the Broncos when he was the victim of constant abuse.

“It wasn’t a great time for all of us. I think the way the Broncos thing ended was an emotional time for all of us,” the Rabbitohs coach said.

“Up until that point I hadn’t even met Anthony, and I’ve met him a couple of times since then. He seems like a decent bloke and it’s great to see young coaches back in the game. I wish him all the best except for the 80 minutes on Saturday night.

“It was brutal in Brisbane and also with the abuse he copped on the web and for his family as well. No one wants that and no one wants to see any coach go through that.

“I think there’s a real importance for coaches to have each other’s backs.

“We’ll battle it out on game day and we’ll want to get one over each other, but outside of that, we need to support each other otherwise we’re on our own. It can be a lonely job head coaching.”