Hasler set to become a rugby league coaching great
Columnist 
Bulldogs NRL coach Des Hasler. AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Related coverage
Bulldog coach Des Hasler is shortlisted to be among rugby league’s greatest coaches.
The 51-year-old has two premierships with Manly in 2008 and 2011 under his belt and has his sights firmly set on a third next Sunday at ANZ Stadium in what will be a crackerjack of a grand final against the Melbourne Storm, coached by Craig Bellamy.
He did have two, but his 2007 and 2009 victories were scrubbed after proven salary cap rorts, making Bellamy all the more hell-bent to stay on the record books this year.
The tactical clash between these two will be worth the price of admission alone.
Bellamy has had three of the biggest names in rugby league for most of his tenure – Cameron Smith, Bill Slater, and Cooper Cronk – a trio of massive match-winners. And Bellamy did have Greg Inglis for six of his 10 seasons.
Hasler has manufactured his minor premiership lineup in his debut season, after they finished ninth last year.
It’s been a phenomenal performance, with every Bulldog from the skipper Michael Ennis right through the ranks far better footballers than they were before Hasler arrived.
In particular, Hasler has turned Ben Barba into a Dally M medallist, and the most electric footballer in the competition. He’s raised the bar to unheard of heights with Sam Kasiano, Frank Pritchard, James Graham, Aiden Tolman, Greg Eastwood, and Krisnan Inu who was withering on the vine at the Warriors.
Hasler has the genius touch to be linked in time with the three best coaches in NRL history – Wayne Bennett, Jack Gibson, and Tim Sheens.
Bennett’s seven premierships, six with the Broncos and one with the Dragons is the benchmark. Gibson has five, two with the Roosters, and three with Parramatta. Sheens has four – three with Canberra, and one with Wests-Tigers.
Hasler has the talented trio’s major attributes – lateral thinking and superb communication skills that automatically translates to getting the roster on the same page.
The Bulldogs know exactly what Hasler requires, and they proved it again last night. Despite an early 4-nil lead where the Bulldogs held possession for the first 5 five minutes before Souths even touched it, Souths then dominated even though they lost playmaker Adam Reynolds with a torn hamstring at the 27th minute, to lead 8-4 with four minutes to the break.
In those four minutes, Sam Perrett scored and Inu landed two goals, and the Bulldogs led 12-8. The loss of Reynolds and the Bulldog fightback rattled Souths, and the Bulldogs ran away with the game 32-8 in the second half.
Melbourne won’t have those lapses next Sunday, and it will be up to Hasler to lift his troops that extra notch or two for Belmore to house the NRL Shield featuring legends Norm Provan and Arthur Summons for the next 12 months.
If anyone can devise a way to beat the Storm with so much at stake, it’s Des Hasler.
The Crowd Says (13) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- Canterbury Bulldogs, Des Hasler, NRL
September 23rd 2012 @ 6:04am
Johnno said | September 23rd 2012 @ 6:04am | Report comment
Des Hasler welcome home, you were born on the central coast but akin to the wrong public knowledge you are more west or west sydney man than northern beaches man. You grew up in Penrith got graded by penrith, made your 1st grade debit for penrith went to manly at 23. Then you had a stint at western suburbs magpies in 1996. Now at the bulldogs, a western sydney boy done good not a northern beaches boy done good i would say, and clearly one of the best coaches in the game.
September 23rd 2012 @ 9:19am
eagleJack said | September 23rd 2012 @ 9:19am | Report comment
What a pointless comment. Ask Des if he’s a Northern Beaches boy and I know what he’ll tell you. 2 premierships as a player and 2 as a coach. Over 25 years at the Manly club makes him a Manly boy for life. So much so that he is dreading the drive to Homebush next Sunday! Best of luck to him against, in my opinion, the best coach in the game. Should be a cracker!
September 23rd 2012 @ 6:40am
Bazza said | September 23rd 2012 @ 6:40am | Report comment
I also think Hassler has improved the captaincy skills of Ennis. Ennis is no longer the whinging, spiteful captain he had tended to be in past years. He certainly stills queries the referees but he appears to be doing it in a more respectful manner. There is more to Hassler than what he himself would have you believe. When it comes to game and team strategies Bellamy and Hassler have been the two best coaches for a few years now.
September 23rd 2012 @ 7:46am
Mals said | September 23rd 2012 @ 7:46am | Report comment
Johnno, do the northern beaches of Sydney a favour & get Hasler to move house to Bankstown
Manly made Hasler the rugby league man that he is, not Penrith or the Central Coast. However, you are welcome to take him back.
–
Comment left via The Roar’s iPhone app. Download The Roar’s iPhone App in the App Store here.
September 23rd 2012 @ 12:03pm
sheek said | September 23rd 2012 @ 12:03pm | Report comment
I am wracked by mixed emotions.
On the one hand, I love this Des Hasler story – the premiership winning coach with Manly Sea Eagles (2008 & 11) who falls out with some members of the board, & is snapped up by Canterbury Bulldogs. This year he pulled the Dogs from 9th to a grand final appearance, an awesome achievement.
Hasler stands on the cusp of history – the first coach to win successive premierships with different clubs.
Then there is the Melbourne Storm story – two-time premiers in 2007 & 09, subsequently scrubbed for salary cap rorting, unfairly in my view, now seeking legitimacy in 2012.
I wish they could both win in parallel universes, but life doesn’t work like that. Someone will win, & someone will lose, that’s the way it goes. I will just sit back & let the game take it’s own cause, & hope the match is worthy of a grand final.
Deep down I suspect the Storm will win, because they are driven by greater motivation I believe, to right the wrongs of the recent past.
Dessy won’t get his history in 2012 I suspect, but mark the Dogs down for 2013.
September 23rd 2012 @ 1:20pm
Renegade said | September 23rd 2012 @ 1:20pm | Report comment
I’m with ya Sheek….it’s one hell of a story shaping this Grand Final.
September 23rd 2012 @ 2:16pm
Blackwood said | September 23rd 2012 @ 2:16pm | Report comment
Next Sundays Grandfinal will turn out to be one of the greatest and will come down to the wires. Slater who’s rated the best in the game will no doubt get out there to extunguish any lingering doubts in anyone’s mind about that. However, this time, he will find real challenge in Dally M Awardee and wiz kid, Ben Barba, who will certainly be up to the contest. The duo will certainly produce fireworks that is worth paying for. Then, there is the Enis vs Smith factor, both as captains and at hooker. Smith is undoubtedly the top rake at the moment and leads his team with rare leadership ability, however, Enis has come a long way this year and is certainly ready to take it up to Smith at that level. Enis always had high potential both as a leader and a top player but was kinda immature until Hasler arrived on the scene and changed all that. Speaking of Hassler, the contest between the coaches Craig Bellamy and Des Hassler is yet another triller. Having said that, every single player on the paddock this coming Sunday, and everyone else involved in both teams run to grand final this year is a hero and deserves every right to be there come grandfinal day! Its all there for the making of RFL own “Clash of the Titans”. I go the Dogs way because of Hassler. He’s done something to the dogs this year that has suddenly made them do things they’ve never do before. I think he has one more suprise left for this Sunday.
September 23rd 2012 @ 8:17pm
Bazza said | September 23rd 2012 @ 8:17pm | Report comment
It’s usually these grand finals that look like being the best in a long time that end up disappointing us. Lets hope not with this one.
September 23rd 2012 @ 1:16pm
Spiro Zavos said | September 23rd 2012 @ 1:16pm | Report comment
One aspect of the Bulldogs play that intriqued me that South played a traditional rugby league style, with the forward bunched and playing down the middle of the field and with the centres and wingers rarely coming into play, and the Bulldogs played like the Crusaders and All Blacks moving the ball from one side of the field to the other to force breaks on the edges of the field.
This is NOT a comment about the merits of either game. But it is intriquing that rugby union has learnt a lot from the rugby league style of defence and now, from what the Bulldogs showed, that something from the expansive (when it is played) rugby union style in New Zealand is being played by the Bulldogs.
Apparently, the Bulldogs are very big on aerobic training with short, sharp and fast sessions. This is exactly what the All Blacks do, too. I read where Israel Dagg, for instance, will run about 25km – 30 kms, in a week of training before a Test. I am sure that the Bulldogs do something similar as their big men were full of running at the end of the match whereas the gym-hardened (and slowed) South big men could hardly raise a canter in the last quarter of the game.
September 23rd 2012 @ 1:38pm
Jimbo said | September 23rd 2012 @ 1:38pm | Report comment
How is Sheens considered in the same league as the other coaches you mention? Sheens won a few premierships with a stunningly talented roster at Canberra, did absolutely nothing at North Queensland, nothing at the Tigers for a few years, had a premiership run in 2005, and then nothing after that?
September 23rd 2012 @ 2:17pm
The Great G Nepia said | September 23rd 2012 @ 2:17pm | Report comment
Can someone get Des Hassler to coach the Waratahs? That’ll toughen the buggers up.
September 23rd 2012 @ 5:40pm
Mick said | September 23rd 2012 @ 5:40pm | Report comment
I agree why is sheens so revered? The Canberra side should have won a few more. The tigers have underwhelmed. Given a rag tag team sheens does not have the gloss. Hasler took manly from a rabble to consistent champions. Bennett and Gibson certainly in another league.
September 25th 2012 @ 9:27am
Anakin said | September 25th 2012 @ 9:27am | Report comment
Everyone keeps talking about Haslers ability to take the Bullldogs from 9th to the GF – and kudos to him for doing so, he’s a good coach – but lets not forget Bellamy has been taking “also rans” and “neville nobodys” from oblivion into champion footballers in their own rights for the last decade. Both gentleman are strategic coaches, and both are good at getting the best out of the players under them. Rather than analyse who’s the better in the zoo, how about we just marvel at two magnificent coaches, two forms teams, and what is sure to be a cracker of a Grand Final! GAME ON!