Manly assistant coach Kieran Foran said he was “shocked” by the news of Anthony Seibold’s axing, while one of the top contenders to replace him revealed he has had “no conversation” with the club as of yet.

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The Sea Eagles sacked Seibold just four weeks into the season on Friday night after a disappointing 33-16 loss to the Roosters saw Manly slump to a 0-3 start to open 2026.

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While Seibold was under enormous pressure entering the year, considering he was contracted until the end of 2027 there was a sense he may be given more time to turn results around.

Instead, the Sea Eagles said in a statement on Friday confirming the news that they were “disappointed” with the start to the season and forced to act immediately.

The news caught Foran off-guard, with the Sea Eagles assistant revealing on Fox League that he had only been in the review of Thursday night’s loss with Seibold earlier in the day.

“Shocked mate. Shocked,” Foran said.

“Obviously I came off air at six o’clock after being in here and received the news. It was business as usual for us this morning.

“Obviously a disappointing loss last night, but we were in there this morning at 6.30 with Seibs himself going through the review of last night’s game and then preparing for Sunday’s training. We’ve got a game against the Dolphins on Thursday night.”

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Foran was on the panel alongside Michael Ennis, a current assistant at the Dragons and former assistant at Manly who is considered one of the top contenders for the vacant role.

Ennis was asked directly about his links to the role and said as of Friday night he had not had any conversations with Manly or even thought about the possibility of replacing Seibold, adding he was “just as surprised” as Foran by the news.

“Obviously it’s been a tough start to the year for Manly but certainly didn’t see it coming, that’s for sure,” Ennis said.

“We’ve got a big game ourselves against the Gold Coast Titans, so there’s been no conversation or any thought about it to be honest.”