Anthony Seibold knows all too well what it’s like to be a punching bag, so the Manly coach is more than happy to shower Luke Brooks with love.
Brooks enters his 12th season in the NRL still searching for his first finals appearance after leaving the Wests Tigers for Brookvale over the off-season.
The hope is that away from the spotlight and scrutiny of the Tigers - and alongside a cool-headed No.7 in Daly Cherry-Evans - the 29-year-old will be able to recapture the form that earned him the Dally M halfback of the year award in 2018.
Brooks and Cherry-Evans got their first run-through together in an opposed session against St George Illawarra on Friday.
And Seibold, who wore plenty of divots during his ill-fated stint in charge of Brisbane, is confident the playmaker can thrive without added expectations.
“That was the first time we got to see 'Brooksie' in a Manly jersey, which was pretty cool,” Seibold said.
“We wanted to make him feel like he belongs here.
"We run a really solid program and we put our arms around 'Brooksie' and welcome him to our club.
"Having copped a few punches around the face myself as a coach, I understood where he was coming from.
“I have empathy for what he’s had to go through.
“We just want him to come in and do his job.
"‘Chez’ (Cherry-Evans), Tom (Trbojevic) and Jake (Trbojevic) are the faces of our club … (Brooks) doesn’t need to be that, he just needs to compete really hard, and we're happy with how he’s progressing.”
Brooks’ arrival at Manly has forced Josh Schuster to shift to the back row, but the powerful Samoan international has had a wretched run with injury in the pre-season.
A finger fracture, a bout of chickenpox and a niggling calf issue have all impacted his off-season training.
However, Seibold insists the 22-year-old will be fit to feature in their February 17 trial, before their season opener in Las Vegas on March 3.
“It’s really unfortunate for 'Shuey' because he was in as good a condition as I’ve seen in the 14 to 15 months I've been here,” Seibold said.
“I'm not sure where the narrative around him not training is coming from, that's certainly not true.
“We expect him to play against the Roosters, which is our second trial.
“We’ve started to see signs of him growing up, and I expect to see the best in him over the next couple of years.
"It's not going to be overnight, but there's not too many players you coach like Josh.”
