Seibold: Fifita 'a player we won't lose'

Anthony Seibold insists the Broncos will not lose David Fifita to other clubs and says money has been set aside to ensure he remains beyond 2020.

The 19-year-old Maroons forward is set to receive plenty of interest from clubs after the November 1 anti-tampering deadline but Brisbane football operations chief Peter Nolan is set to meet with Fifita’s management next week to kick-start formal negotiations.

Seibold also confirmed the Broncos had made veteran forward Alex Glenn an offer and said keeping Fifita would not mean the club had to let players go.

"David has indicated to me that he wants to stay. He loves the Broncos and he is best friends with Payne Haas and those kind of guys," Seibold said.

"He is a player that we won’t lose. He will be a Bronco, we believe. He is someone who is from the area and has been with the club for a long time.

"We also understand that there will be a great deal of interest in him from other clubs but believe it or not we have a recruitment and retention committee there that gets the budgets together.

"We have money for David. We won’t have to worry about letting players go or not having enough money to keep him. We know the value he brings to our club.

"David has one year left on his contract. The chairman of football [Peter Nolan] is meeting with his manager next Wednesday. We gave the indication earlier in the year that in August we would start negotiations and that is what we will do."

With regard to Glenn, he said the Broncos were waiting to hear back from his management and it was "his call, ultimately".

"We have offered him a two-year deal," Seibold said.

"That is about keeping some leadership with these young guys. Alex has been fantastic and has played multiple positions this year. I think he has had a really positive season and been really consistent. He has great leadership qualities. We can’t just go with young guys. We need experience around them."

Seibold addressed speculation about the future of captain Darius Boyd who is contracted until the end of 2021. He said the club would not be asking him to retire at season’s end and had not considered doing so.

"When I came to the club and you see the roster, you see the contracts and the length of the contracts of the players. There has not been one discussion between myself and Darius about his plans for next year. There has been no conversation about him not playing," Seibold said.

"We've had some discussions about what he can do better with his game. He is open and honest. We always have opportunities for feedback but we have a young group, we don't have a lot of experience and Darius being a premiership winner knows what it takes to get the job done.

"Darius has another two years to go on his contract. He has been a fantastic leader for us. He has copped a lot of criticism from what I understand throughout the season but he has been fantastic for me and our young group.

"He is somebody who has earned the respect through his performances over a long period of time. He has a lot of deposits in the bank so there has been no conversation with Darius. I'm not sure where that has come from."

Despite losing 22-20 to Souths last week, Seibold saw plenty of positives in Boyd’s game and said his partnership with half Sean O’Sullivan would only improve as the Broncos prepare to play the Eels at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.

"[Boyd] had a really solid game. It was good to see him take the line on and his push support is getting better and that has been a real focus for him. I think he has been pretty strong defensively," Seibold said.

"Sean O'Sullivan will be better for the run. We've had to make changes with our halves this year for a number of reasons, but having Sean back in there, having done two or three sessions and a full week's preparation, he will be more confident."