Manly has ended weeks of speculation by sacking two-time premiership coach Des Hasler.
Key points:
- Des Hasler is expected to be replaced by Anthony Seibold
- The Sea Eagles failed to make the finals this season
- Hasler coached the Sea Eagles to premierships in 2008 and 2011
Hasler’s management confirmed on Thursday that the Sea Eagles had terminated his employment with immediate effect, before the club released a media statement announcing their decision.
“After careful consideration, the board of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles has today unanimously decided that, in the best interests of the club, Des Hasler will not be head coach of the club for NRL season 2023,” Manly chairman Scott Penn said in the statement.
“The board and the club would like to acknowledge Des and his long history with the club as a player and as a coach, enjoying two premierships with the club as a player and taking the club to two more premierships as a coach.
“We are grateful and appreciative to Des for his dedication to the club, the team, all of its supporters and the sponsors over a long period of time.
“Des will always remain an icon of the club and an integral part of the club’s history.”
The Sea Eagles are set to announce Anthony Seibold as Hasler’s replacement for 2023.
Manly lost its last seven matches of the 2022 NRL season as the club’s decision to wear a one-off pride jersey divided players and supporters alike and thwarted a playing group that had made the top four in 2021.
Hasler had a year to run on his contract but his position first came under scrutiny when Manly missed the finals series, meaning the coach failed to satisfy a clause in his contract that would have triggered an automatic extension for 2024.
The situation reached critical mass this week when Penn claimed the Sea Eagles needed a football department fit for its “premiership-winning team”.
In plotting a succession plan, Penn favoured ex-South Sydney and Brisbane coach Seibold, who was previously an assistant on the Manly coaching staff.
As recently as Wednesday night, Hasler was reported to have told the Sea Eagles he was open to having Seibold as an assistant in 2023, with the view to vacating the head coaching role at the end of that season.
However, after meeting on Thursday morning, the Sea Eagles board determined the regeneration would be fast-tracked because the embattled club hopes to mend the divides that cruelled their latest campaign.
Hasler’s exit could yet have a ripple effect on the playing group, key members of which have voiced their concerns about their off-season turmoil.
Captain Daly Cherry-Evans is famously close with the ousted coach because it was Hasler who handed the halfback his NRL debut in 2011 and developed him into a premiership-winning playmaker by the end of that year.
Just last month, Cherry-Evans admitted he had contemplated leaving the club amid a week of rumours around his relationships with other players.
Tom and Jake Trbojevic’s management have also claimed the pair are concerned about the instability at the club.
Both are also tight with Hasler and share the same management company.
Hasler is the most-recent coach to have taken Manly to premierships, doing so in 2008 and 2011, before leaving the club for a stint at Canterbury.
After two grand-final losses with the Bulldogs, Hasler returned to Brookvale in 2019 to become the second-most capped coach in the club’s history, behind Bob Fulton.
In total, Hasler coached the Sea Eagles in 303 matches, just short of Fulton’s club record of 307.
AAP/ABC
Discussion about this post