Des Hasler's exit end of an era at Brookvale

[josie andrews]

In the space of just six months, Manly could have lost well over 100 years of club loyalty, knowledge and passion.

With head coach Des Hasler poised to sign a lucrative NRL contract believed to be worth around $1 million a season that will tie him to the Canterbury Bulldogs from 2013, yet another Manly stalwart has bitten the dust in 2011.

Hasler is expected to see out the 2012 season at the Sea Eagles, but will then take up a new deal reportedly set to make him the code's second highest paid coach behind only incoming Newcastle coach Wayne Bennett.

Former coach and chief executive Graham Lowe was the first domino to fall when he stood down from his role as CEO in April due to health concerns.

When he left, so did more than two decades of association with the Manly club dating back to his coaching debut in 1990.

When Peter Peters was told his time as Manly media manager was over in September, it ended an era at the club stretching all the way back to the summer of 1969, when Peters was lured to Brookvale to play in the front row.

Now Hasler, who linked with Manly as a workaholic halfback from Penrith in 1984 and only strayed for one-season stints at Hull and Wests in the nearly three decades since, is on the way out with speculation rife that fellow 1980s hero Noel Cleal is set to join him at the Bulldogs.

Just five days ago Hasler, Cleal and Peters celebrated in the middle of ANZ Stadium as the Sea Eagles claimed their eighth premiership after accounting for the Warriors in the grand final.

It was Hasler's second as a coach, making him the fourth two-time premiership-winning Manly coach in history - a feat to go with his on-field grand final triumphs in 1987 and 1996.

Now the club, according to Peters, is on the verge of the most disruptive period in over three decades.

"If (Hasler) does go, it will be the biggest explosion to hit the club since Bob Fulton left for the Roosters straight after the 1976 grand final," Peters wrote in his Manly Daily column on Friday.

"This is a bombshell I never wanted to write but I believe there is every chance Manly's super coach Des Hasler will end his coaching career with the Sea Eagles in 2012.

"... Several members of Sunday's grand final winning side stressed concern about Hasler's long term future to me as late as Thursday night."

The belief at Manly is that having secured a second premiership for the Sea Eagles, the fiercely competitive Hasler is chasing a new challenge.

"Eventually we got him the money he wanted and the terms he wanted, but about three weeks ago I felt he may go," Manly chairman and co-owner Scott Penn told Peters.


"I believe Des is seeking new challenges and that there are no mountains for him to climb at Manly.

"If it happens it is a sad day for the club and we haven't contemplated the next step."

That next step will likely involve approaching current assistant coach Geoff Toovey, who is the frontrunner to take the reins from Hasler at the end of 2012.

But there's no question he has enormous shoes to fill, taking over from the man who helped drag the Sea Eagles from oblivion when he took over in 2004 and transformed them into arguably the most successful team since then.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sp ... Brookvale?