Seibold details Manly’s Schuster Origin project

Murray Wenzel | May 4, 2023

Manly coach Anthony Seibold has revealed his Josh Schuster State of Origin project in a commitment to the under-fire playmaker he says has been unfairly portrayed.

The Sea Eagles have put the 21-year-old on ice in what Seibold described as a “collaborative decision” to rehabilitate an ongoing quad injury and generally improve his fitness.

One of the club’s top earners, Schuster was involved in a training scuffle last week and had his work ethic and attitude publicly questioned.

A free agent as of November 1, Schuster has been linked with a move to Wests Tigers.

But Seibold on Thursday went in to bat for the talent and also shut down talk of the club chasing out-of-favour Canterbury half Kyle Flanagan.

“It’s a little bit like there’s been a pile on,” Seibold said of the attention on Schuster, who has been rested for a second-straight week and will miss Friday’s Magic Round clash with Brisbane.

“We made a collaborative decision to put him in a reconditioning block.

“I have been checking in on him because I feel as though there’s been a bit of commentary around him at the moment which paints him in a negative light when that’s not the case.

“He’s a 21-year-old guy, a very talented kid right at the start of his career.

“We’ve got some great mentors at the club spending a lot of time with him.”

The coach dismissed speculation they were chasing Flannagan and said there was a clear way back for Schuster, given halfback Daly Cherry-Evans is destined for another State of Origin campaign for Queensland.

“We want to get him up and running. (Five-eighth) Cooper (Johns) has been really sound to start the year, shown improvement,” Seibold said.

“Chez will go to Origin, we can have Josh and Cooper through that origin period in the halves then we feel as though we’ve got a really strong halves combination.”