Manly and Des Hasler don’t get it
By The Mad Chatter, 31 Aug 2011 The Mad Chatter is a Roar Rookie
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- Manly Sea Eagles, Melbourne Storm, NRL, Rugby League
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The Manly coach Des Hasler, the Manly players, the Manly Board and Manly fans are amongst the most arrogant and misguided bunch of battlers I have ever come across in my opinion.
They cry when anything happens and the fall-out from what is being termed ‘Black Friday’ simply strengthens the case against these pelicans.
Anyone else notice how the whole world is against Manly according to fans and anyone associated with the club?
I’m not going to get into the debate about who started the fight in the Manly Sea Eagles v Melbourne Storm match from last week except to say no one in rugby league would argue against the initial sin-binning of Glenn Stewart and Adam Blair for their involvement in the first punch up.
No one in rugby league would disagree with these clowns being sent-off for their second punch up on the way to the sin-bin. The referees got this one spot on.
What people do care about is that players from both sides came running from all directions to help. This was a bad look, not acceptable and the NRL rightly charged 10 players for their involvement in the fight.
What I’m blowing up about is the rhetoric from Manly officials following the fight that they were 50% responsible for. Some would even argue they are more than 50% responsible.
Manly lovers whinge that the NRL has a vendetta against them and the world isn’t fair.
My opinion is that it was your players who came charging in, some ran from more than 30 metres, and escalated what was simply a one on one fight.
If there was no involvement from Manly in that fight, then there would be no involvement from the NRL.
Manly need to get off their high-horse and for once take responsibility for their own actions.
Both Melbourne and Manly were fined $50,000. So what did Des “Has-Been” Hasler have to say about it all:
“The Manly club has decided to accept the $50,000 fine and move on, which is probably the smartest thing to do – to put the distraction well and truly behind us and not make it too protracted. We can move forward.”
What a self righteous thing to say. Hasler is saying that the fine is a distraction and for the good of the game they’ll cop it and not let this drag on any further. He is also saying they’ll accept the fine.
Well Des, if your blokes had not run 30m and attacked the head of an opposition player and not been responsible for escalating a one on one blue, then there would be no need for the fines.
Don’t now pretend that you’re helping the game out by copping the fine and not letting it drag on.
If you want to help the game, how about you apologise on behalf of the players for what was an ordinary act. Craig Bellamy from Melbourne should do the same!
Hasler has also carried on and suggested the NRL use the fine money to employ sideline officials to make sure players leave the field of play without any incidents. The NRL already employs sideline officials to manage the interchange but why should the NRL change the rules because of one act of stupidity by Manly and Melbourne players?
Most players have enough intelligence to walk off the field without incident. Again Manly should be looking closer to home as to why this all-in-brawl happened.
There is still a massive hang-over of ill feelings from Manly towards the NRL over the Brett Stewart drama from not yesterday, not last week, but from 2009. Get over it Manly.
When troublemaker and chief pelican Glenn Stewart was interviewed last week before the Black Friday match, he was told NRL boss David Gallop, who by the way has done an outstanding job through all of this, was going to be attending the biggest match of the year, according to the Daily Telegraph he acted like a mug.
“Is he definitely coming? Oh well – we’ll just wait and see what happens when he gets there.”
It had an air of menace about it. Gallop was surrounded by security guards when he was walking through the crowd at Brookvale so one-eyed Manly fans didn’t assault him.
How easy the Manly club forgets and points the fingers at everybody else.
Now before Manly supporters read this and blow up asking about my thoughts on the Melbourne Storm, I can tell you I also think their players acted in an ordinary manner.
However, we haven’t heard Craig Bellamy or the Melbourne Board members carrying on in the media and making smug remarks.
Please Manly, for once, actually take responsibility for your own actions and stop blaming everyone else in the world for your actions.
I have a feeling after tonight’s NRL judiciary we’ll be hearing more complaining from the Manly club as they blame the NRL and suggest there is a conspiracy against them when Manly players involved in the punch up are suspended.
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August 31st 2011 @ 12:02pm
RAYY said | August 31st 2011 @ 12:02pm | Report comment
3RD MAN IN? MANLY. 4TH MAN IN ? MANLY. 5TH MAN IN? MANLY. 6TH MAN IN ?MANLY. SIR , IT WAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE BEHAVIOR OF MANLY,,,,IT WAS THE STORM JUMPING IN TO PROTECT THEIR ONE PLAYER .BLOODY STORM BULLIES…….
August 31st 2011 @ 12:04pm
matt said | August 31st 2011 @ 12:04pm | Report comment
has been hasler? Better than a never was you git.
What about the 4 melbourne players attacking the manly guy in the first place, Blair throwing huge uppercuts whilst the manly player was held.
no one was hurt who cares move on.
August 31st 2011 @ 12:45pm
Jimbo Jones said | August 31st 2011 @ 12:45pm | Report comment
The media should take some blame for hyping it all up in the first place.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Manly would always read in the papers that they are the most hated team, that they start believing that and feel like they are under siege? Perhaps if the fans had more love for their team as opposed to hate for other teams this garbage wouldnt happen
August 31st 2011 @ 1:30pm
Ksi said | August 31st 2011 @ 1:30pm | Report comment
You can’t blame the media. No fight = no bad publicity.
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August 31st 2011 @ 1:43pm
Mals said | August 31st 2011 @ 1:43pm | Report comment
“no one in rugby league would argue against the initial sin-binning of Glenn Stewart and Adam Blair for their involvement in the first punch up.” Wow what a generalisation! Many people including the Manly club do not understand why Glenn Stewart was sin binned. Hinchcliffe & Lussick aside – Blair was the only other player on the field throwing punches. The players sin binned should have been Hinchcliffe, Lussick & Blair.
Hasler is a has been? Please justify this statement. Hasler was a successful player winning 2 premierships & playing over 300 games of 1st grade. He is now arguably an even better performer as a coach. I spoke to Wayne Bennett at St George sponsor’s lunch & asked his opinion of Des Hasler – Wayne said Des is an elite NRL coach who is getting the most out of his squad. High praise from the most successful coach ever in the NRL!
August 31st 2011 @ 2:02pm
Ken said | August 31st 2011 @ 2:02pm | Report comment
Hard to deny Hasler’s success – I find his constant whining makes him very tiresome as a coach though. Even though I was a fan of his during his playing career (even as an opposition supporter).
August 31st 2011 @ 6:51pm
oikee said | August 31st 2011 @ 6:51pm | Report comment
Elite coach getting the most out of his squad. ? Mate if you ever had a backhander like this and not know it, your blindfolded.
Have alook at the Manly roster, must be 10 players who all have either international or rep footy experience. Even dumbo the clown could have success with this mob.
Send him to the Sharks and lets see how he goes.
Whatever happens this weekend against the Broncos is how good a coach Des can be judged. A super coach would get them over the line, after all, your only up against a baby Broncos team.
The Broncos wont cop the nonsense that Manly brought to Brooky, it was as plain as the nose on your face that Des brought the biff.
Des, your on the big stage now, bring whatever you like, the Broncos are going to teach you a lesson in footy.
Take your medicine.
September 1st 2011 @ 8:44am
Mals said | September 1st 2011 @ 8:44am | Report comment
Look up the word elite in the dictionary Oikee you obviously do not know the meaning of the term.
Oikee the cold hard truth is that the Brisbane Broncos have not beaten Manly at Suncorp since 2006. You should rename your team the Brisbane Miniature Ponies. Locky won’t be getting a GF victory send off this year, start crying into your weetbix champ.
September 1st 2011 @ 1:00pm
oikee said | September 1st 2011 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
Hey Mals, seen Crusher up here in queensland the other day, i said to me mate, what is he doing, he said looking for Manly juniors.
What happened, Parra getting sick of sending them your way.
September 1st 2011 @ 3:15pm
Mals said | September 1st 2011 @ 3:15pm | Report comment
Oikee, don’t worry we have our own northern beaches Hopoate footy production line, John has 5 sons! Crusher is one of the best in the business – he & Des idenitified the half back drought years ago & went out and found Hodkinson & Cherry-Evans. We also have our fair share of local juniors in 1st grade such as Watmough, King, Hoppa Jnr, Oldfield, Harrison, Mauro, Lussick.
August 31st 2011 @ 2:18pm
floppybottom said | August 31st 2011 @ 2:18pm | Report comment
further, manly cheated cronulla out of a premiership with a forward pass…
September 1st 2011 @ 4:33am
Schuey said | September 1st 2011 @ 4:33am | Report comment
and don’t we love it.
August 31st 2011 @ 2:37pm
Epiquin said | August 31st 2011 @ 2:37pm | Report comment
I’m tired of Manly acting like there’s a conspiracy against them. Particularly after what they did to the bears.
August 31st 2011 @ 3:00pm
John Davidson said | August 31st 2011 @ 3:00pm | Report comment
Both Manly and Melbourne were at fault at what happened on Friday night, and both clubs should be rightly punished. If you look at Des Hasler’s comments, you will see he did not condone the fight, and I think he was referring to the fight as the distraction (to Manly’s premiership hopes), not the fine itself.
If there was an underlying cause of the fight, I doubt it was Manly’s ill-will towards the NRL. Melbourne has just as much ill-will against the NRL, rightly or wrongly, but I don’t think this was the cause of it either. It was more a result of a much-hyped up clash of first versus second on the ladder going astray, with both wanting to get one over the other. The two teams facing off have had a brewing rivalry for quite a few years now, with several past incidents adding fuel to the fire. If you watch the first half in the game there was a lot of niggle in the play-the-ball and tackle area that was let go by the referees, and I think that played a part. This fight was not pre-mediated and both chief protagonists (Blair and Stewart) regret their actions.
August 31st 2011 @ 3:07pm
Mals said | August 31st 2011 @ 3:07pm | Report comment
Geez John stop being rational, well balanced & most of all stop talking sense! The Mad Chatter & Oikee won’t appreciate it!
August 31st 2011 @ 3:43pm
Renegade said | August 31st 2011 @ 3:43pm | Report comment
I agree with John’s comments but it doesn’t change the fact that manly were at the very least 50% responsible for this whole debacle.
It also doesn’t change the fact that Des has named Glen Stewart in this weeks team and had the nerve to ask where the moeny is going – who the hell is this guy??
It also doesn’t change the fact that glen stewart spoke like a grub at the press conference last week prior to the match when questioned about Gallop’s attendance – “we’ll see what happens” what the hell does that mean?
It also doesn’t change the fact that Des whinges every single week with a common theme or agenda against the NRL and Gallop since 2009.
Just being rational and talking sense.
August 31st 2011 @ 6:53pm
oikee said | August 31st 2011 @ 6:53pm | Report comment
I am all over it Mals, i posted above, please dont take it the wrong way. I am nearly over the Manly saga, its finals time, i am just looking forward to a great series. Cheers.
September 1st 2011 @ 8:56pm
Meesta Cool said | September 1st 2011 @ 8:56pm | Report comment
This was probably the best summation on the ‘happenings that I have seen on any forum.The fight happened , Justice has been served??. Roll on Finals. I think we are in for a few good games.
August 31st 2011 @ 3:21pm
Canberra Man said | August 31st 2011 @ 3:21pm | Report comment
Manly have only ever complained of the 2009 Brett Stewart suspension for being way over the top. Also in recent years the NRL has done zero to convince me that the example set has become the rule.
Glenn Stewart now has the right of appeal, who is anyone to deny him natural justice? The fact that reports of upto 8 week suspensions for players involved and the plain to see headline grabbing by using Brett Stewart’s name, were way off the mark (given most got 1 week) tells me that the media beat this story like a snare drum at a Metallica concert and just proves that 99% of the League reporters have no idea.
August 31st 2011 @ 3:33pm
Big Steve said | August 31st 2011 @ 3:33pm | Report comment
Just read a comment from Lussick that “I loved it and it was the best day of my life” regarding the fight last week. Blair and Stewart appologised and the guy who started the whole thing says it was the best day of his life. do these guys think before they speak to the media? Surely he realises that Many have said they dont condine the fighting and the NRL have said it was an embarresment. I think they should extend his suspension.
September 1st 2011 @ 5:47pm
Jimbo said | September 1st 2011 @ 5:47pm | Report comment
People complain that sportspeople don’t speak their minds; I would much rather hear that sort of thing than some nonsense scripted Michael Clarke style interview. Let’s face it – neither Stewart or Blair are sorry they were involved in the incident; they are sorry they are getting suspended for it.
September 1st 2011 @ 7:25pm
Renegade said | September 1st 2011 @ 7:25pm | Report comment
There’s nothing wrong with speaking your mind, I agree….and in this case, it’s evident that Lussick is a grub.