{"id":306014,"date":"2025-11-24T17:45:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T17:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/306014\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T17:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T17:45:13","slug":"nrl-coach-makes-huge-announcement-about-his-teams-future-but-can-you-tell-whats-wrong-with-this-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/306014\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL coach makes huge announcement about his team’s future – but can you tell what’s wrong with this picture?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manly have left some fans bewildered by the unique way Tom Trbojevic was unveiled as the team’s new captain on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a slight departure from what might be expected of a captain’s unveiling, the Sea Eagles squad gathered in a circle in a car park.<\/p>\n

Some players, including their coach Anthony Seibold, sipped on coffee as the Manly boss delivered the news that Trbojevic, who is nicknamed ‘Turbo’, would succeed Daly Cherry-Evans as the club’s skipper for 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘[I’m] really proud to be able to announce our captain for this season,’ Seibold said.<\/p>\n

‘Obviously we’ve got some really good leaders in the club, but as a club we’ve decided to go with Turbo as captain for this season.<\/p>\n

‘With Chez departing, we’ve had a number of good candidates, but Turbo’s going to lead us out.’<\/p>\n

\"Manly <\/p>\n

Manly Sea Eagles star Tom Trbojevic (pictured) has been appointed as the club’s new captain for the 2026 season<\/p>\n

\"Manly \"Seibold <\/p>\n

Anthony Seibold (right) addressed the training group on Monday, but bizarrely made the announcement in a car park<\/p>\n

Trbojevic was appointed to the vacancy on returning for pre-season on Monday, a month after signing a contract extension that ended speculation over his future.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old has been stand-in captain twice before, once in 2024 and 2025, and beat brother and former NSW skipper Jake to the permanent role.<\/p>\n

But some were left bewildered by the Sea Eagles’ decision to make the announcement in a car park, with some arguing that it wasn’t a very fitting or memorable place for such a momentous occasion.<\/p>\n

‘Nothing more inspiring than an announcement made in a parking lot, coffee in hand, looking at the ground,’ one fan wrote on X. ‘I’ve been moved to tears.’<\/p>\n

‘What a special way to present it, so forgettable,’ one said.<\/p>\n

‘To be fair, they have not had many options since Trent left and took his outdoor furniture with him,’ another wrote.<\/p>\n

One added: ‘Love how his sort of announcement was done in a car park…’<\/p>\n

‘Wasn’t there a better setting than a car park,’ another laughed.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"Footy <\/p>\n

Footy fans joked they’d been ‘moved to tears’ after seeing how Manly had announced their new captain<\/p>\n

\"Trbojevic <\/p>\n

Trbojevic becomes only Manly’s second full-time captain since the start of the 2017 season, when departing halfback Cherry-Evans first took on the role<\/p>\n

Softly-spoken Trbojevic becomes only Manly’s second full-time captain since the start of the 2017 season, when departing halfback Cherry-Evans first took on the role.<\/p>\n

He is tasked with rousing the Sea Eagles into a new era following the exit of Sydney Roosters recruit Cherry-Evans, their long-time on-field general and most-capped player of all time.<\/p>\n

‘Tom leads through his actions on and off the field,’ said coach Anthony Seibold.<\/p>\n

‘I know he’ll do a great job as captain.’<\/p>\n

Manly endured a mixed 2025 season that was overshadowed by speculation about Cherry-Evans’ departure. The club would end the campaign in 10th place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cherry-Evans’ replacement, ex-Canberra veteran Jamal Fogarty, arrived at Brookvale Oval on Monday for his first day of training.<\/p>\n

Injury-stricken Trbojevic will hope a full pre-season can translate into his first campaign of playing more than 20 games since 2018.<\/p>\n

‘The next few months of pre-season will be tough but it’s an exciting time for all of us as we prepare for the new season,’ he said.<\/p>\n

\"Injury-stricken <\/p>\n

Injury-stricken Trbojevic will hope a full pre-season can translate into his first campaign of playing more than 20 games since 2018<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, South Sydney have held off the threat of breakaway rugby competition R360 and extended Jye Gray’s contract through to 2029.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old fullback had a breakout season in 2025, leading the Dally M Medal count early in the campaign, and could keep Latrell Mitchell in the centres this pre-season.<\/p>\n

Gray had already been contracted for 2026 and looms as crucial to the Rabbitohs’ hopes of improving on this year’s disappointing 14th-placed finish.<\/p>\n

‘I’m determined to repay the faith they (Souths) have shown in me by putting my best foot forward over the next few years to help us achieve our goals,’ he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manly have left some fans bewildered by the unique way Tom Trbojevic was unveiled as the team’s new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,100,761,762,158,588,85],"class_list":["post-306014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dailymail","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}