Manly coach Anthony Seibold credit present Wallabies boss Eddie Jones for serving to him bury the hatchet in a feud with Rabbitohs counterpart Jason Demetriou that dated again 4 years.
Demetriou and Seibold first clashed when the latter beat the previous to interchange Wayne Bennett as coach of Brisbane in 2019.
Having misplaced out, Demetriou grew to become an assistant beneath Bennett on the Rabbitohs, the place Seibold had coached till he gained the Broncos job.
Forward of the primary assembly of the Rabbitohs and the Broncos the next season, Demetriou ignited a disagreement by claiming groups had “labored (Seibold’s) model out” throughout a disappointing finish to the 2018 finals for South Sydney.
Seibold fired again, questioning whether or not Demetriou had been left bitter by lacking out on a maiden head teaching job.
The pair confronted one another once more in August 2020, when Demetriou stood in for Bennett whereas the grasp coach was remoted for 14 days following a COVID-19 breach.
However as they put together to conflict for the primary time on an equal footing, each males insist there isn’t any dangerous blood between them.
Seibold mentioned 16 months working beneath Eddie Jones as protection coach of the England rugby union facet had helped him develop and transfer on.
“One of many individuals who actually helped me with that was Eddie Jones, spending time with Eddie for 2 years and seeing how he handles issues,” Seibold mentioned.
“At totally different occasions, you could possibly deal with issues higher or in a different way however I’ve moved on. All that stuff (with Demetriou) is prior to now.
“I’ve solely met Jason as soon as and he appeared like a very good man, and clearly a very sharp coach.”
Demetriou urged the tiff could have been born out of adverse circumstances.
Whereas the present Rabbitohs boss had been disillusioned to overlook out on a head teaching job, the Broncos regressed throughout Seibold’s two years in cost.
Seibold’s sacking got here in August 2020 amid the membership’s worst season on file and a torrent of social media abuse directed on the coach.
“The best way the Broncos factor ended, it was an emotional time for all of us,” Demetriou mentioned.
“It was brutal in Brisbane. Not solely that, however the abuse he copped on the net, for his household as effectively, nobody desires to see that.
“There’s an actual significance for coaches to have one another’s backs. We’ll battle it out on sport day and we’ll wish to get one over one another.
“However exterior of that, we have to help one another, in any other case we’re on our personal. It may be a lonely job, head teaching.
“It is good to see him again in NRL teaching.”
The match marks Latrell Mitchell and Tom Trbojevic’s first time clashing as fullbacks and also will provide an opportunity to honor the legacy of late Rabbitohs nice John Sattler, who died this week.
“It isn’t concerning the coaches in any case, it is all the time concerning the gamers,” Seibold mentioned.
“The battle between Latrell Mitchell and Tom Trbojevic is one thing to sit up for, but in addition the battle of gamers like Cody Walker, Daly Cherry-Evans, Josh Schuster, Damien Prepare dinner.”
