Fed up fans were heard chanting “Seibold out” with about five minutes to go on Thursday night with Manly slumping to an 0-3 start to the season after going down 33-16 at 4 Pines Park.
Another big crowd turned up despite a massive storm about 90 minutes before kick-off and were vociferous early on as they booed Cherry-Evans every time he touched the ball.
But their frustration turned towards Seibold by the end of the night, with the Manly coach signing a new deal in late 2024 that has him under contract until the end of 2027.
“Well I can’t control that narrative,” he said after the game, adamant he didn’t hear the boos and chants.
“Only Scott (Manly chairman and owner Scott Penn) and the ownership group can control that, so there’s no point me wasting any energy or time on that.
“I think 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.
“I still believe that we can do something together as a group so I haven’t really put any thought into it. I’m three games into a two-year extension, so it hasn’t sort of been a focus for me.
“I didn’t hear the fans, but what do you want me to do?
“I feel I’ve got a group there that can win games of footy and they fight hard. Like if we didn’t have any fight in us we would have got towelled up by 60 points with those stats.
“I can’t control that narrative, so there’s no point wasting my time on it.”
The Sea Eagles actually led at half-time but conceded three quick tries and were never able to assert any territorial dominance against the Roosters who were disciplined with and without the ball.
The fans cheered loudly when young giant Simione Laiafi came off the bench, and there are growing calls for Seibold to inject more youth like playmaker Joey Walsh into the side.
“We led 10-8 at half-time against a team that many predicted to be one of the two or three teams that are premiership favourites,” Seibold said.
“Leading 10-8 with only 40 per cent of the footy, we fought hard. Second half we had a penalty try against us and a sin bin against us. So there’s 12 points there and then two bad defensive reads on our last tackles.
“So there are so many positive things tonight, but one thing I know is you’ve got to keep cohesion in your group. It was good to see (Laiafi) get on the field, which is great. He’s got a great future but he’s got to build up his minutes.”
The Sea Eagles take on the Dolphins next week as pressure continues to mount on their coach, and things won’t get easier with forward Ethan Bullemor set to be unavailable after he injured his Achilles before kick-off.
“He was warming up and he was about to go on, and when he was warming up to go on, he hurt his Achilles. That sort of messed around a little bit with our interchange plan,” his coach said.
“I’m not sure (how bad it is) so I’d have to go speak to the medical staff. I mean it’s certainly not a rupture, but there’s a fair bit of pain there. He wasn’t able to go on and play, so that doesn’t sort of sound great.”
