Manly Sea Eagles head coach Anthony Seibold has claimed his team has improvement left in them after a tight loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Saturday evening.
Golden point was ultimately needed to separate the two teams as a Lachlan Ilias field goal iced the contest for the Bunnies shortly after the resumption of play.
A Manly forward pass call late in the contest has left the NRL with more questions over officiating, but Seibold wasn't drawn for comment on that in his post-match press conference, instead suggesting that he was glad his team were able to get into an arm wrestle.
“We are right at the very beginning, Souths, a lot of that team have been together for a few years,” Seibold said.
“Obviously, Jason has coached the last year and a bit, but we are right at the very beginning, so for us to get in a high-quality game.
“We knew there wasn't going to be a lot of points in it and were confident defensively, we knew we could hold our end up.
“So for us to get in an arm wrestle was something that we wanted to try and experience and come out the other side.
“We just weren't quite good enough when we had a chance to build some opportunities, but as I said we are right at the very beginning and I feel as if we have some improvement left in us.”
The Sea Eagles' start to the 2023 season has so far been full of positives.
The disastrous end to 2022, which saw the club lose seven matches on the trot before parting company with former coach Des Hasler, has been covered ad nauseum over the off-season.
The struggles following the pride jersey debacle, with the club simply unable to respond, left plenty of questions over whether Manly could be a contender to finish in the bottom four this time around.
They have been anything but a bottom-four side this year though, with the club starting off with a pair of wins on either side of a bye before falling last night.
Those wins came against the Canterbury Bulldogs in dominant fashion and the Parramatta Eels in a high-scoring thriller. The game against South Sydney however saw just a combined 25 points scored - Manly had scored more than 30 points in both of their first two games.
The club is also working through a new combination following the departure of Kieran Foran, with Josh Schuster playing five-eighth, while Tom Trbojevic being fit and back on the field is making an enormous difference to Seibold's side.
Seibold himself, after replacing Hasler, came into 2023 under all sorts of pressure. His last head coaching stint ended in a disaster at the Brisbane Broncos, but his rookie season at the South Sydney Rabbitohs saw him take the club well into the finals.
The Sea Eagles will attempt to get back into the winner's circle next week against the Newcastle Knights, before facing the Penrith Panthers and Melbourne Storm in back-to-back weeks.
