‘I genuinely believe he hasn’t made a decision’: Seibold says he doesn’t know if DCE will play on

“I’ve known about it since December,” Seibold said on Saturday. “I’ve said it a number of times that both myself and Chez have had private conversations and, ultimately, it was his decision when he was going to announce this would be his last year [at Manly].

“The club and Chez are at peace with his decision. It’s allowed us to focus on what we do next.

“What we don’t want to do is go away from focusing on the moment.

“We’ve had a really good start to the season. It’s been business as usual internally, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we show how connected we are with our actions on Sunday.”

When asked if he had grilled Cherry-Evans about why he wanted to leave the club – not once, but twice – Seibold said: “I don’t think it’s [that] he doesn’t want to be here. My conversations with Chez I’ll keep private, because that’s the way it should be.

“I feel Chez is very genuine with regards to him not knowing what he wants to do next.

“Does he want to play on? Next birthday he’s 37. Could he play on? I think he probably could, but only he can answer that.

“As a 36-year-old who has played 332 games for our club – he’s [also] played Origin and for Australia – ultimately he gets to make that call.

“Of course people want to know [if and where he will play next], but I genuinely believe Chez hasn’t made a decision about what he wants to do.

“We’re three rounds into a 27-round season. I think he should be able to make a decision on what he wants to do in his own time. It’s a physical game.”

Despite chasing Fogarty, and knowing teen playmakers Joey Walsh and Onitoni Large are their long-term halves options, Manly like the idea of moving Trbojevic to five-eighth, especially with Lehi Hopoate a readymade fullback replacement.

Trbojevic, Haumole Olakau’atu, Reuben Garrick and Jason Saab would be a potentially damaging right-side combination. Defending in the front line is what Trbojevic regularly does for NSW and Australia when he plays in the centres.

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“We were hoping Chez might reconsider his decision from December, but in the background we’ve got a couple of things we’ve planned, and now it’s about going out and executing the right plan, and that would be one of them,” Seibold said about Trbojevic being a No.6.

Jake Trbojevic was certainly all for moving his brother to five-eighth, revealing during the week his brother already had a significant say in how the Sea Eagles played.

“He’s one of the smartest people you will meet in terms of rugby league and the way he reads the game,” Jake said.

“He’d have to work on his kicking – he hasn’t done that since Aussie rules in the under-12s – but he definitely could do it. I think Tom is keen to do whatever suits this club. I think his best position is fullback – I won’t hide from that, he’s a great fullback – but whatever is best for us moving forward, he’ll do.”

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