Manly coach Anthony Seibold says the decision to shift Tom Trbojevic into the centres “wasn’t a punishment” and revealed Daly Cherry-Evans addressed the playing group about his decision to leave the club.

Seibold comes into Friday’s clash with Wests Tigers under pressure after his side lost three of their past four games to drop out of the top eight. The coach has shown he’s not afraid to make big calls, dropping several stars to reserve grade in the bye week and shifting Trbojevic from fullback to the centres, allowing Lehi Hopoate to wear the No.1 jersey.

It’s been a tumultuous time at Brookvale, with rumours swirling about the future of Seibold due to the discrepancy between his team’s best and worst performances.

Trbojevic has been struggling for form, evidenced by his inability to make the NSW team. However, Seibold insists the positional switch isn’t a penalty and will only be temporary.

“Well, first of all, I’ll say it wasn’t a punishment. I don’t know what the take has been on it externally, but it’s not a punishment,” Seibold said.

“It’s around helping ‘Turbo’ find a little bit of confidence without worrying about the team. As a fullback you have to worry about the line organisation. You have to worry about the secondary side of an attack. And I feel for Turbo, [it’s about] going about himself and playing with a bit of flow and and enjoying footy again and competing, without having the organisational skills, which he is unreal at.

“It’s just about taking a little bit of pressure off him. And it’s also about recognising and rewarding Lehi Hopoate.

“We’ve missed him the last two games. He got knocked trying to score a try about three or four minutes into the Knights game a couple of weeks ago. But prior to that, he’s been in great form. So it’s about allowing Turbo to play with a bit of freedom and flow. And he is the Australian Kangaroos centre.

“He’s done that at the highest level and he’ll do a good job.”