Seibold says Redfern his preference amid Broncos talk

Anthony Seibold has already begun talks with South Sydney officials on extending his contract with the Rabbitohs, leaving no-one in doubt on what he thinks about being linked with the Brisbane Broncos as they search for a possible replacement for Wayne Bennett in 2020.

Seibold is off contract at the end of 2019, and due to the success of South Sydney – currently on a seven-game winning streak after Thursday's 42-24 over Parramatta – plus his two years under Queensland coach Kevin Walters as Maroons assistant, he is attracting interest from rival clubs.

"I can understand the speculation – I'm from Queensland. But I'm in my first year, and what are we up to, 15 games?," Seibold said after the round 15 win over the Eels.

"I love the Bunnies and I've got another year on my contract here. The club has started negotiations to extend my contract. For me, that's my priority. My job is here now. That's all I've got to say on it."

He was more concerned on how his 22-year-old winger Robert Jennings would handle the occasion of facing two of his older brothers – Michael and George Jennings. 

"It was a big game for Michael Jennings obviously being his 250th. I was a little worried about Rob during the week because he was playing against his two older brothers. He did a really good job but the guys inside of him like Greg [Inglis] and Cody [Walker] also did a good job setting him up for a couple," Seibold said of Jennings' four-try haul.

 "He's played against Michael before but not the two of them. I just spoke to him about being aggressive – get himself a couple of carries and get into the game."

For me, that's [Rabbitohs] my priority. My job is here now.

South Sydney coach Anthony Seibold

The representative week is expected to see four South Sydney players return to the Queensland and NSW Origin camps as well as the three Burgess brothers to England for the Denver Test against New Zealand.

But Seibold is not forgetting that he needs to refresh the playing squad left behind. And he's got a novel idea to help with that.

"We're going to have some time off the back end of next week. We're also going to have the Waratahs rubgy union club come in and do some hybrid games on Wednesday then we'll go on a four-day break," he said.

"Obviously a number of guys will be away in Origin or away with the England team. We'll have a small group at training, so just reinvigorating them and then giving them some time away from footy is important."

Souths did the same thing at the start of the season linking with the Port Adelaide AFL club for a training session.

Seibold wasn't taking too many plaudits for lifting South Sydney to the top of the NRL table. Neither is he keen to hear too much about the Rabbitohs' semi-finals prospects. 

"I haven't really thought about it to be fair. My mentality as a coach is your next job is the most important. That's been my focus since I've been a coach, even as an assistant.

"I haven't looked too far ahead. We've got a bye next week and I think we need that – we've had a pretty challenging travel schedule over the past month.

"Obviously we're pleased with the last seven weeks – we'd be lying if we didn't - but we had 24 points scored against us tonight so plenty to work do."