Anthony Seibold maintains he is still the right man for the job after Manly’s fans went from booing Daly Cherry-Evans to turning on him late in their 33-16 loss to the Sydney Roosters.
Cherry-Evans was booed on every touch in his return to Brookvale on Thursday night, even if the Manly great still had the last laugh as he played a role in four of the Roosters’ six tries.
But by game’s end, there were chants of “Seibold out” from the main grandstand, with loud boos at fulltime as the winless Sea Eagles fell to a third-straight loss at home.
“I didn’t hear the fans, but what do you want me to do? I turn up, work hard for the group,” Manly coach Seibold said.
“I feel I’ve got a group there that can win games of footy and they fight hard.
“If we didn’t have any fight in us, we would have got towelled up by 60 points with those stats.”
Seibold was handed a two-year extension at Manly for 2026 and 2027 after making the 2024 finals.
But after pressure grew on his job last year, the Sea Eagles have a crucial few weeks with games against the Dolphins, St George Illawarra and North Queensland.
“I can’t control that decision,” Seibold said, when asked about his future.
“Only (chairman) Scott (Penn) and the ownership group can control that, so there’s no point me wasting any energy or time on that.
“I’ve invested a lot of time in the club over the last three-and-a-bit years and made a lot of sacrifice with my time.
“But if I’m not the right person, I’m sure Scott will tell me.”
Against a Roosters side that completed at 96 per cent and spent most the game camped at Manly’s end, there were positives for the Sea Eagles in their first-half defence.
Tolu Koula showed he is again an attacking threat as all three of Manly’s tries came out of their own end, while prop Simione Laiafi showed promise on debut.
But Manly’s inability to get out of their own end again proved costly, as did a crucial passage in the second half.
With Manly leading 10-8, Corey Waddell was the victim of a one-on-one strip from Connor Watson and by the time the Sea Eagles next touched the ball they trailed 26-10.
In that five-minute passage, Robert Toia stepped by Luke Brooks, Watson chased down an early grubber and Daniel Tupou was awarded a penalty try.
Cherry-Evans was at the centre of much of it, in a win that will alleviate some of the early scrutiny that both he and the Roosters have endured after a poor start to the year.
With the booing almost comical after his 352 games at Manly, the No.7 played a role in the Roosters’ opening two tries.
He first offloaded in the lead up to Mark Nawaqanitawase’s first four-pointer, before the winger’s second came when Trbojevic spilled a Cherry-Evans bomb and the No.6 spread it right on the next play.
Manly were also unable to handle Cherry-Evans’ kicks in the lead up to Tupou’s penalty try, before another of his kicks helped result in points with Toia’s second late in the game.
“I thought the boos were a little bit of fun,” Roosters coach Trent Robinson said.
“But the important thing for us was improving that cohesion he is running with it.
“We defended ourselves into field position and our completion rates were really high. It improved a little bit, but we’ve still got a bit to go.”
Making matters worse for Manly was Saab’s sin-binning late for high contact on Hugo Savala.
Luckless Roosters centre Billy Smith suffered a knee injury before halftime, and will require scans.
