White: Appointing Seibold was 'not wrong at the time'

Broncos CEO Paul White says the club did not make the wrong decision to appoint Anthony Seibold as coach despite the end of his tenure more than three years early.

White said at the press conference for Seibold’s exit on Wednesday that he and the club was "accountable" for what had transpired since the coach’s appointment.

When NRL.com asked White later whether the club got the Seibold appointment wrong he said "not at the time".

"There wasn’t anyone that came to our club that said we got the decision wrong bringing Anthony Seibold to our club," he told NRL.com.

"We competed with Souths who had put forward a four-year offer. They wanted him there. We had to compete to win his services, and we did.

"Obviously it has ended the wrong way. With every decision you make in life, if it is really important and has really got some gravity to it… then it has got risk and reward. Anthony has accepted that."

White, who will finish up at the Broncos in October, said there was a "robust process" in place when Seibold was appointed on a five-year deal and there would be again as the Broncos board goes to the market for a coach for 2021 and beyond.

"I am coming to the end of my tenure so I will be guided by what the board want me to do as part of that process," White said.

"The board have been definitive that they are not putting a timeline on it but obviously this year we’ll blend in to finals footy and Origin and the new season will commence shortly thereafter, so there will have to be a fair bit of work done in the next five or six weeks I would have thought."

Three other candidates were interviewed for the job that Anthony Seibold was eventually given - Michael Maguire who is now the Wests Tigers coach, Kevin Walters is the Maroons coach, and South Sydney assistant coach Jason Demetriou, who will take over from Wayne Bennett as head coach at the end of 2021.

Given the credentials of that trio, NRL.com asked White what the Broncos board saw in Seibold that they didn’t see in the others.

"One is that he had a different in terms of his system and approach to how he was going to  set the club up, and there were obvious strengths in that area,” White said.

"All candidates were good and had good coaching careers. Anthony had developed a system that he had implemented at South Sydney and was having a lot of success and he was Dally M coch of the year [in 2018].

"He had franked his systems with the way that Souths played. He could articulate that and we had a real understanding of that.

"Other reasons were key to his appointment, and he had played for our club. Anthony didn’t play first grade but he is an Old Boy. He came through our elite player academy system and he understood that."

Former Cowboys coach Paul Green and five-time Broncos premiership winner Walters are expected to be the major candidates for the job.

White suggested there would be no repercussions for Walters not getting the job based on him missing out last time.

"I was the person who pushed for him to get the Origin job with the QRL. I brought Kevin back into the club [as assistant coach] when Wayne was here so I am a huge supporter of Kevin Walters, and I am sure Kevvie would acknowledge that," he said.

"Today is not about looking in the rear view mirror and right at the moment it is totally inappropriate for me, and with regard to the board’s position, to be engaging in a running commentary of potential candidates and it is unfair on those potential candidates as well."

White was also asked whether the club would favour an experienced NRL coach or be prepared to go with a coach who has not headed an NRL outfit.

"I think with all those decisions you’ve got be open minded. There is a whole range of things you factor into those equations but I don’t think you discount any option," White said.

"The good thing is that Anthony, with his courageous decision, has given the club some time and space to consider it."

White said the board would decide when the coach would be appointed but added that he believed the next coach should be installed by the start of pre-season.

"It is the biggest decision the club will make this year and it to be given the propriety that it needs," White said.

White would not comment about Bennett’s exit at the end of 2018. The Broncos and Bennett have had different versions of events surrounding his sacking ever since it occurred, and nothing has changed on that front.

"I am not here to restate what happened in the past," White  said.

"The reason we went with Anthony and the board made that decision was that we needed to build a long term plan with this playing group and we knew we needed a change of direction.

"Today we face the brutal realities of sport which are very unpredictable. Today Anthony is ending his tenure and we should respect and acknowledge the role that he has done."