Manly coach Des Hasler will be given one more chance to save his NRL coaching career at the Sea Eagles.
Before Thursday’s meeting between Manly powerbrokers and Hasler, sources with knowledge of the situation told the Herald that the coach will not be sacked, nor will he have personnel changes forced upon him for next season.
The Sea Eagles are unlikely to extend Hasler’s contract beyond its expiry at the end of next year when they meet on Thursday, but are open to discussions about the club’s future as they map out a plan for the next four to five years.
Manly are hoping a strong performance by Hasler’s team next year will answer many of the questions over the way forward, but the coach wants stability.
Hasler has been considering resigning from his post if that stability isn’t guaranteed. The club’s decision not to change his staff will go some way to allaying his concerns, but his manager is expected to push for at least another season on his deal.
Under the terms of his contract, Hasler would have been guaranteed an extension through to the 2024 season if the Sea Eagles finished inside the top six this year. They finished 11th.
The Sea Eagles believe forcing staff changes upon Hasler will have a negative impact on the club and don’t want to create an environment where the coach feels he is being undermined.
Instead they will meet with Hasler and his agent George Mimis to discuss potential logistical and systematical changes to the operation of the football department to help create a high-performance environment conducive to success.
The club knows it only really has two options; sack the coach or give him full control.
At the end of 2016 the Bulldogs, led by former Canterbury chairman Ray Dib, began to pick apart Hasler’s support staff after questioning recruitment manager Noel Cleal’s contribution to the organisation and the value of the coach’s team of assistants.
Daly Cherry-Evans embraces Manly owner and chairman Scott Penn.Credit:Getty Images
Dib stripped Hasler of his power and his allies, which disappointed the coach and only created further tension between club administration and the coach.
Manly want to avoid history repeating itself. The club knows tension between Hasler and the powerful Fulton family is at breaking point.
New chief executive Tony Mestrov wants to work out a pecking order and implement procedural changes to ensure the club’s key stakeholders aren’t at loggerheads over the recruitment and retention of players.
The club is also aware of recruitment manager Scott Fulton’s close relationship with player agent Mario Tartak, who has introduced several players from western Sydney into the Manly system.
Daly Cherry-Evans with coach Des Hasler.Credit:Getty
Manly officials do not want the coach to be forced into selecting certain players based on who they are managed by or the strength of their relationship with certain individuals at the club.
Talking to the Herald on Monday, skipper Daly Cherry-Evans backed Hasler as the man to lead the club out of the mess it now finds itself in.
“I’m almost certain through the conversations that I’ve had that the playing group likes Des and want him to be our coach,” Cherry-Evans said. “It’s hard to determine where all this noise is coming from but from the chats I’ve had, Des is our guy. I’d be surprised if the club thought that he wasn’t the best man for the job. I reckon history suggests that Des is a great coach. We love our coach and we know that we have the playing group to get out of it next year.
“I’ve been here for a long time. We just seem to be a club that brings unnecessary attention to ourselves. The senior players taught me when I was young coming through, now it’s my turn to teach the boys that we can’t get caught up in that side of the club. It’s just not for us to worry about, especially with the way we’ve played this year. Our priority needs to be fixing the football.”
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