Manly Sea Eagles head coach Anthony Seibold has slammed the NRL over his side being forced to play five games in 25 days, and return from Perth on a five-day turnaround.
The Sea Eagles have lost all three of their games in the horror 11-day stretch, which included a trip to Perth last Saturday for a game against the Cronulla Sharks.
They lost to the Melbourne Storm at Brookvale the Sunday before that, and then followed it up by falling short against the St George Illawarra Dragons on Thursday evening.
Seibold wasn't short of a word in his post-match press conference, suggesting the NRL has never been more demanding, and questioning how the competition made the fixture list.
โThat's five games in 25 days. The NRL has never been more demanding and we talk about player welfare and wellbeing and so on and I just don't understand how," the frustrated coach said.
"Not only five games in 25 days but three in 11 days,โ Seibold said after his side's 20-18 loss to the Dragons on Thursday night.
โI see it's the same at other clubs, the Raiders, the Sharksโฆ but just look at us for a minute. Three games in 11 days then we lose two days going to Perth, it's a five-hour trip each way.
"I don't understand it.
โThe competition has never been more demanding, the GPS data is through the roof this year.
โI just don't understand. It's something that needs to be looked at. It's not an excuse for how we played but it's something that needs to be looked at.
โI don't know how you play in Perth on Saturday, fly home Sunday then turn around for a Thursday night game.
"We had 20 minutes on the field (at training) this entire week.โ
Manly have another stretch of three games in 11 days during the State of Origin period when they host the Brisbane Broncos in Round 13, and then play both the Newcastle Knights and Gold Coast Titans away over the following weekends.
While they now have a nine-day break before playing the Penrith Panthers in Round 8, and then have the bye over Magic Round, Seibold said it needs to be looked at, and asked why the NRL couldn't be the same as the AFL where five-day turnarounds do not exist.
โIt's across the competition and it needs to be looked at,โ Seibold said.
โIn the AFL they don't have less than six-day turnarounds and their sport they run a lot more and don't have the same level of contact.
โNobody is going to listen to one coach, but I'm just putting it out there. We talk about wellbeing and player welfareโฆ this is just something that needs to be looked at."