Former Manly Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold has revealed a surprise switch in coaching positions following his sacking after a tumultuous opening four-week campaign to start the season.
When appearing on Channel 7’s Agenda Setters: Rugby League, Seibold confirmed he has been working with the Collingwood Magpies in the AFL competition following his March sacking.
“The last couple of weeks, just been sort of doing a little bit of work for Collingwood there,” Seibold said on the panel.
“And I know the head coach (Craig McRae) really well. So I’ve been down there a couple of times and I’m just going to do a little small role there for the rest of the AFL season.”
McRae has held the position of Magpies head coach since 2021, and following a 2023 premiership victory, he was extended through until the end of the 2028 season.
It isn’t the first time Seibold has liaised with the rival code, with former Geelong star and AFL mentor Aaron Greaves joining the Sea Eagles’ ranks as a coaching development and leadership manager for the 2026 season.
Greaves spent four years at Carlton in a head of coaching, performance and innovation role before the Northern Beaches club poached him.
Following reports by 7News, Seibold regularly communicated with him late last year for ways of improvement and discussing challenges in their respective codes.
Seibold, who had stints at South Sydney and Brisbane, also shared a relationship with A-League coach John Aloisi and Australian cricket coach Andrew McDonald.
The former Sea Eagles coach reflected on the last few weeks of his tenure, saying he had a gut feeling it was about to reach a boiling point following the third consecutive loss in front of the boisterous Brookvale faithful to start the year.
“The end of my time, obviously that’s always very difficult and can be quite emotional,” Seibold said.
“I didn’t think I’d be sacked after Round 3, but the actual response after the Roosters game.
“I spoke to Jason King after the game and I just said, ‘look, I feel like there’s a lot of commentary and a lot of noise around my role’, the club and I felt as though either the club needed to come out and back me and support me or the club needed to make a decision to move me on.
“My gut sort of told me after the game that potentially they might go that way.”
Since Seibold was let go by the Sea Eagles, interim head coach Kieran Foran has won five from six matches, with the only loss coming as a two-point defeat to the noble Penrith Panthers.
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