Why hiring Flanagan is ‘the smartest thing Manly did and also the dumbest’

Hiring Shane Flanagan as an assistant coach is each the “smartest” and “dumbest” factor Manly might do, in response to NRL 360 co-host Paul Kent.

After Des Hasler was sacked as head coach final yr, the Sea Eagles assembled a brand new teaching workers with former Broncos head honcho Anthony Seibold getting the highest job and Flanagan and Jim Dymock introduced in as assistants.

It’s Seibold’s first alternative as a head coach since his dramatic fall from grace in Brisbane in 2020 the place he was proven the door lower than two seasons into his five-year deal.

Watch each recreation of each spherical of the 2023 NRL Telstra Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

Speaking on NRL 360, News Corp journalist Michael Carayannis credited Seibold for turning Manly’s misfortune’s round.

The Sea Eagles completed eleventh and there have been rumours of fractures within the enjoying group following the Pride jersey saga. But beneath Seibold, they gained the Pre-season Challenge and their first recreation of the season.

“That club was in a bit of a hole at the back end of last year. He’s galvanised the group and brought them together,” Carayannis mentioned.

“He’s surrounded himself with good people as well, I think that’s helped, having some senior assistants that can take the heat off and when he’s going a bit too far out they can bring him in.

“Shane Flanagan and Jim Dymock are very much people persons and relatable to the players so I think it’s a very good coaching group.”

MORE NRL NEWS

‘ANYTHING BUT SOFT’: Abdo hits again at criticism of NRL’s landmark transfer

EXPLAINER: The NRL’s new concussion protocol, why gamers gained’t miss two video games

‘JUST WALK AWAY’: Klemmer reveals precisely what was mentioned in Hastings trade

‘A CLUB WILL SCREAM’: The answer to keep away from big finals outs in NRL adjustments

However Kent believes Manly “100 per cent should have” made Flanagan the pinnacle coach, declaring: “He’s far more qualified than Seibold to be a head coach. Seibold can coach, but he’s got a better credentialed assistant there to help him through.”

Kent additionally mentioned “the smartest thing Manly did is also the dumbest thing they did,” referring to the appointment of Flanagan as an assistant.

“He’ll sit there and when Anthony Seibold starts to make mistakes, Shane Flanagan will say ‘hang on this is the way we need to go’,” Kent added.

“Shane Flanagan is a head coach anywhere else, he’s more than capable of being a head coach and Seibold wet the bed when he was in Brisbane. When it starts to happen here, he’s got Flanagan there, who’s going to be the bloke he leans on.

“Everyone overlooks what Shane Flanagan did. He took over a club that finished 14th and took it to a premiership when he was in charge of running the roster, the salary cap — the whole ducks guts. There was no Phil Gould overlooking anything, he ran the whole lot.

“He’s now at Manly as an assistant coach — that’s such a blessing for a bloke like Seibold.”

Seibold is understood for with the ability to discuss the discuss, however he was finally caught out at Red Hill for not with the ability to stroll the stroll.

Fox League’s James Hooper believes Seibold has “done a really good job trying to reinvent himself” and revealed he’s simplified his teaching.

“I think he has pulled the X’s and O’s back a little bit and in terms of the team meetings and information being given — I don’t think it’s anywhere near the extent that it was when things went pear-shaped at the Broncos.”

Get all the most recent NRL news, highlights and evaluation delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!

But Kent isn’t so satisfied.

“He’s got all the answers,” he mentioned.

“A weekend at Harvard doesn’t make you a professor.

“Good luck to Anthony Seibold, the players are responding to him, I think he’s blessed with a really good roster that he’s inherited and I think Manly are in really good shape.”