分类： sports

Papua New Guinea’s newest National Rugby League expansion franchise, the PNG Chiefs, has continued its aggressive off-season roster and staff recruitment drive by securing a major coaching addition: seasoned former NRL head coach Anthony Seibold has signed on as an assistant coach for the club’s highly anticipated debut season in 2028.

Seibold will join existing assistant Luke Bert to support head coach Willie Peters, who has already pulled off a string of high-profile player signings ahead of the Chiefs’ first competitive campaign. Standouts among the confirmed playing squad include representative star Jarome Luai, standout outside back Zac Lomax and experienced utility Connor Watson, all of whom have officially committed to the expansion club.

For Seibold, the appointment marks a fresh career opportunity following an early-season departure from his most recent head coaching role at the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. He was relieved of his duties just three matches into the current NRL season after suffering three straight home defeats, opening the door for a new challenge with the ambitious PNG-based franchise.

With a well-established coaching resume that includes senior head coaching roles at top NRL clubs South Sydney Rabbitohs, Brisbane Broncos and Manly Sea Eagles, plus coaching experience across multiple international sports, Seibold brings a depth of elite-level expertise few other candidates can match. In comments following the official announcement, he expressed enthusiasm for the project the Chiefs are building in Papua New Guinea.

“I’m looking forward to working with Willie Peters and supporting the vision that this club has,” Seibold said. “The Chiefs are building something special with strong values and great people, and I’m excited to play my part in helping them succeed. The chance to make a positive impact on players, staff and the wider community was a big reason I wanted to join the Chiefs. Success on the field is important, but building something that inspires people across Papua New Guinea is just as meaningful.”

Chiefs general manager of football Michael Chammas praised the signing, noting Seibold’s background will be an invaluable asset for Peters as he navigates the unique challenges of launching a new NRL franchise. Chammas emphasized that Seibold’s experience as a head coach will not only complement the existing coaching staff but also provide a trusted sounding board for the club’s first ever head coach.

“We’re really excited about Anthony joining our coaching staff and believe that he will add a great deal to the playing group and football department as a whole,” Chammas said. “His experience in numerous roles across rugby league is a great benefit to us, and his time as a head coach in particular will help him be a trusted adviser to Willie. It will also complement the attributes that Luke brings as an assistant coach, and we believe they will work extremely well together alongside the rest of our football staff.”

Chammas added that Seibold’s first-hand exposure to Papua New Guinea during a recent visit left him eager to contribute to the club’s growth, cementing his interest in the role. Seibold and his family will officially join the Chiefs organization in November 2027, as the club continues laying solid foundational structures ahead of its first NRL season kickoff in 2028. The signing of Seibold is the latest in a series of key personnel moves that have positioned the expansion franchise for a competitive debut in the league.

This weekend, National Rugby League (NRL) veteran Api Koroisau is set to hit one of the sport’s most respected career milestones: his 250th top-flight appearance. But instead of letting the hooker take the spotlight, all eyes have shifted to ongoing internal drama involving halfback Adam Doueihi that has thrown the struggling Wests Tigers further into the headlines.

Koroisau, a 3-time premiership winner and Fijian international, concedes he can barely recall fragmented moments from his very first NRL game. Ahead of Sunday’s clash against the Parramatta Eels, he says he is determined to set aside the chaos of the past few weeks to focus on marking his career milestone with a much-needed win. Benji Marshall’s Tigers side have slumped to a six-match losing streak, sitting second-last on the 2024 NRL ladder. Off the field, the club has been roiled by reports of friction between Doueihi and coaching staff after the halfback opted to sit out last week’s loss to Canberra.

The conflict was addressed publicly by both Doueihi and Marshall earlier this week, and Koroisau shared his perspective on the standoff during a media briefing Friday morning. According to the veteran hooker, the issue has been resolved internally among the playing group. “I think it’s been dealt with pretty well behind closed doors,” Koroisau said. “I think he’s good. I think the boys have been really receptive towards him as well and I think you guys saw him training the other day, so we just sort of dealt with that. It was between us and Adam and we’ll probably just leave it there.”

For a club that has dominated rugby league headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent weeks, Koroisau says the only path to silencing external noise is through on-field results. “For us it’s just been so much talk and there’s been so much chaos, so for us it’s about going out there this weekend and putting on a performance. That’ll be the biggest factor in all this,” he explained. “I think rugby league is built on that. And if we go out there and have a good performance, I’m sure it’ll all quiet down.”

Despite the off-field speculation, Koroisau insists the culture within the Tigers’ locker room has improved over recent seasons, adding that the playing group remains unified despite external criticism. “It (the culture at the Tigers) definitely has (improved). There’s a lot of noise and everything that comes from the outside, but us, in these four walls, we’ve been pretty good. And the boys are sticking solid with each other.”

Sunday’s match will double as a celebration of Koroisau’s decorated 10-year career, which includes premiership titles in his rookie 2014 season, 2021 and 2022. The 2014 title remains one of the most iconic moments of his career: he was called into the grand final side at the last minute to replace suspended starting hooker Issac Luke, and walked away a champion. “It was all a bit surreal. I still think about it now,” he recalled. “You never know when it’s going to be your opportunity and I just sort of had to do my part for the team in that one, but it was definitely a crazy story.”

Now a veteran leader at the Tigers, Koroisau says his core approach to the game has not changed over his decade in the NRL, even as he has added new tactical tricks to his gameplay. “I don’t know if much has changed (for me as a player). I just try to get a bit more trickery in my game and build on that. I still love putting my body on the line and just defending and going out there.”

Three years ago, Koroisau made the high-profile decision to leave powerhouse side Penrith Panthers, where he won two premierships, to join the rebuilding Tigers. Penrith have gone on to win two more consecutive titles since his departure and are heavily favored to claim a fourth straight premiership in 2024. Even with the Tigers’ ongoing on-field struggles and off-field chaos, Koroisau says he has never regretted his choice to move to the Sydney club. “I’d still take it (and wouldn’t) change anything, even with everything that’s gone down,” he said. “I love this place and I love the boys that are here, and anything I can do to help them. I definitely would still take it knowing everything that was to come.”

Despite a dominant 25-point victory over Collingwood at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday night, Geelong Cats head coach Chris Scott has not shied away from calling out one of the most imbalanced free kick tallies recorded at the venue this AFL season.

The final free kick count told a striking story: Collingwood, the Cats’ opponent, was awarded 24 free kicks over the course of the match, while Geelong was called for just seven – a 17-free-kick advantage for the Magpies that left Scott confused and frustrated in his post-match press conference.

The second half saw the disparity grow even starker, with Collingwood holding a 12-2 edge in free kicks as the Magpies mounted a comeback attempt. That comeback effort came after Geelong got off to a blistering start, kicking nine of the match’s opening ten goals to build an unassailable early lead.

Scott told reporters that while the 24 free kicks awarded to Collingwood did not raise major red flags for him, the fact his side only earned seven struck him as deeply irregular. “We’ve had a few games like that this year, and if it’s like 7-12, it’s like okay it’s just put the whistle away night,” Scott explained. “I will bring up one issue that’s been confusing for everyone. When you have one umpire 12m away with a perfect view and he gets overruled, that’s strange.”

Beyond the officiating controversy, Scott addressed broader team questions heading into the closing stretch of the AFL regular season. Star midfielder Patrick Dangerfield missed Thursday’s clash with a lingering injury, and Scott clarified that the club was holding Dangerfield out of the lineup not because he was physically unable to play, but because coaching staff would not rush him back until he is fully prepared to perform at his best. “He’ll come back into the team at some stage, but we’re not going to bring him back when we think he’s not ready to play his best,” the coach said.

Scott added that even with the strong win, the 16th-year head coach believes his squad still has plenty of room to improve as they enter the latter part of the campaign. Two other key Cats stars – Max Holmes and Jeremy Cameron – remain sidelined with injury, but Scott said the club remains optimistic that both will be able to return to action before the end of the season.

The pivotal win over Collingwood has already moved Geelong up the AFL ladder, catapulting the side from ninth place to a provisional fifth spot in the standings. Geelong still has three remaining regular season games, all scheduled against teams currently ranked outside the top 12, giving the Cats a strong path to solidify their position in the top eight and qualify for the finals series.

In a sharp rebuke that has sent shockwaves through global football governance, Europe’s governing football body UEFA issued an ultimatum Thursday: it will pull all of its national teams out of every FIFA competition, including the marquee World Cup, if FIFA refuses to completely abandon its plan to bring private investors into the ownership of its top competitions. The hardline stance marks one of the most significant rifts between continental confederations and the global football governing body in modern history.

“No UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership,” UEFA said in an official, strongly worded statement. The organization doubled down on its principle that football’s most iconic tournament cannot be commodified: “The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product… No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale.”

The controversy stems from an announcement FIFA made just two days prior, on Tuesday, that it intended to launch a new commercial subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), that would manage its crown jewel events, including the men’s and women’s World Cup and the expanded Club World Cup. Under the published framework, private investors would be permitted to purchase minority stakes in the new entity, with FIFA targeting capital raises of up to $4.2 billion based on a $20 billion total valuation of FFE.

FIFA has framed the initiative as a transformative investment in global football growth. If the proposal receives final approval, the organization says each of its 211 member associations would get a one-time payout of $20 million as early as 2027, and would see its core funding allocation for the 2027-2030 cycle jump from $8 million to $20 million. FIFA President Gianni Infantino lauded the plan Wednesday, calling it a “golden opportunity to turbocharge the development of the game globally”.

That pitch has done little to sway critics, led by UEFA. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin already boycotted the 2024 World Cup final last week to signal his opposition to the plan, and the confederation’s latest statement makes clear the schism is about core principles of football governance. “This model has no place in world football,” the statement read. “Football’s future cannot be dictated by the expectations of those whose first duty is to maximise financial return. Nor can the interests of national associations, leagues, clubs, players and supporters become subordinate to investor returns. Football cannot mortgage its future for financial gain.”

UEFA went on to argue that the entire process behind the proposal has been deeply undemocratic. “It is both irresponsible and indefensible that a proposal of such significance for football was conceived in secret and brought to the brink of approval without any meaningful consultation with those entrusted with stewarding the game,” the statement added. “This is not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of FIFA’s duty as the custodian of world football. National associations around the world are now presented with an ultimatum: accept the irreversible capture of football’s greatest competitions or bear the consequences. This is not a ‘democratic decision’, but governance by intimidation – an act of coercion unworthy of an institution entrusted with the stewardship of the global game.”

UEFA is far from alone in its opposition. Several top European national federations and European Union officials have already come out against the plan, warning it accelerates the excessive commercialization of sport and creates dangerous openings for conflicts of interest. Two other continental confederations, CONCACAF covering North, Central America and the Caribbean, and the Asian Football Confederation, have also raised objections over the lack of broad consultation with FIFA’s full membership before the plan was announced. The Confederation of African Football has directed its member associations to conduct a full review of the controversial proposal before taking a formal position.

Closing its statement, UEFA reiterated that its opposition is non-negotiable, framing the fight as a defense of football’s intergenerational legacy. “There are moments when institutions are judged not by what they are prepared to accept, but by what they refuse to compromise. This is one of those moments. Some things are simply too important to sell. The FIFA World Cup belongs to football. It always will. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale,” the statement concluded.