An email exchange between the Manly Sea Eagles administration and its football department is set to be key to a potential legal battle involving Des Hasler and the club owners.
With Hasler on the verge of suing the club for more than $1m in damages over the rainbow jersey fiasco, Manly is expected to argue that Hasler’s football department was notified months in advance of the club’s intention to design and launch the jersey.
The email was sent to Manly’s general manager of football John Bonasera months before it was announced in July.
But sources close to Hasler said the club email was never forwarded to, or raised with, the Manly coach. Hasler, who was highly critical of the club in the press conference following the launch of the jersey, has denied any prior knowledge of the initiative.
Sources with knowledge of the situation told the Herald that Bonasera later apologised to Hasler via email for not discussing the initiative with him before the jersey’s launch.
It is expected the email from Bonasera to Hasler, which was sent after the rainbow jersey story hit the headlines, will be central to the Hasler camp’s denial of any prior knowledge of the situation.
Embattled Manly coach Des Hasler.Credit:Getty
Bonasera, who was forced to take on extra responsibility following the sudden departure of former chief executive Stephen Humphreys, apologised to Hasler for not understanding the potential ramifications of what was being proposed by the club. Bonasera did not respond to calls.
The foundation of Hasler’s legal claim will be based around allegations that the Manly club compromised his ability to fulfil his contractual performance criteria as a result of the rainbow jersey fiasco earlier this year.
Hasler’s agent George Mimis declined to comment when contacted on Monday morning. New Manly chief executive Tony Mestrov wouldn’t comment on the issue, saying the matter had surfaced before his start date at the club.
The Daily Telegraph on Monday night published screenshots of an alleged email exchange between Bonasera and Sea Eagles commercial boss Luke Tucker.
“I just want to double check before production commences that we won’t have any issues with any players wearing these jerseys for this one-off game,” Tucker is reported to have written.
Bonasera is reported to have replied: “Don’t see an issue at all mate.”
Meanwhile, sources with knowledge of Hasler’s contract told the Herald that the coach, who is due to be on close to $950,000 in 2023, has a termination clause in his contract that will see him paid out only around $450,000 if the club decides to sever ties with the two-time premiership-winning coach prematurely.
At his last club, Hasler walked away with $1 million following an out-of-court settlement at Canterbury when they parted ways.
Anthony Seibold is Manly’s preferred option to eventually take over from Hasler.Credit:Nick Moir, NRL Photos
Sources with knowledge of the Manly stand-off confirmed to the Herald that if the club were to part ways with Hasler before next year, and installed preferred coach Anthony Seibold, they don’t believe they would have to pay Hasler his $950,000 annual fee.
Manly is hoping to bring things to a head by the end of the week as they await Hasler’s response to a strict set of conditions the club imposed on him last week, including welcoming Seibold as his assistant and eventual head-coaching successor for the following year.
Hasler is now away on holidays this week.
Some officials at Manly were worried about fitness levels a month before the rainbow jersey fiasco. Concerns were raised when North Queensland scored three late tries in three minutes to pinch victory, only for a similar fade-out almost costing them the win against Melbourne a week later.
The season-ending injury to superstar Tom Trbojevic did not help Hasler’s cause, but the club privately conceded their roster was good enough to still reach September’s finals series.
An ability to get the best out of a young group is why Seibold – not Hasler – has long-term appeal on the northern beaches.
While Hasler pushed for Cronulla assistant Josh Hannay to succeed him, the club and Penn like Seibold, who lives on the northern beaches, and learned plenty from his spirited time in charge of Brisbane after succeeding Wayne Bennett.
Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans has always been a huge Hasler fan, but kept his distance about the latest dramas when chatting with the Herald last week.
“I don’t know what’s going on, and as a playing group we’ve understood all we can do is rock up to pre-season training and work hard to bring it all back together,” Cherry-Evans said.
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