Canterbury should have made a decision on whether to give Des Hasler a new contract by now.
Everything they need to know about him as a coach is exposed, so why the delay?
The longer this inaction by the management and board of the club continues, the more uncertain the Bulldogs look and the stranger Hasler’s situation gets.
What are they waiting for?
Is it really to see whether Hasler can dig the team out of their current jam and get them at least level-pegging again in terms of wins and losses within the next four-to-six rounds?
Or is it to see if the team’s situation just goes from bad to worse?
If they need one of those scenarios to develop to convince them to say yay or nay to another term for Hasler, then they haven’t been watching closely enough from within.
Hasler has been there for five-and-a-bit seasons now. They must know what he brings as a coach. The question is whether what he brings is still working, or, if it isn’t working at the moment, whether it can work again.
It is a matter of opinion as to whether Hasler should be invited to stay or be moved on, but there should be enough evidence for the people in charge to have made a decision one way or another by now.
The manner of Canterbury’s 36-0 loss to Manly last Saturday indicated that the Bulldogs-Hasler marriage could be ready for a divorce. From the way the team played, it just looked like the association had run its course – and there would be no shame in that.
If it has petered out, what would be the point in Hasler even continuing until the end of the season?
A split between the club and coach now might be the best result for both, because if the club does come out in a few weeks and say they aren’t renewing Hasler’s contract, how lame would that be?
Some will make the argument that there would be no point in getting rid of Hasler if you haven’t got anyone better, or as good as him, to take his place, but in some situations the best course of action is to make the cut and worry about the rest later.
That, at least, would take a bit of the spotlight off Canterbury and give them a chance to move forward without everything they do being analysed and re-analysed over and over again.
Instead, the glare of that spotlight will just be harsher when the Bulldogs take on Brisbane at ANZ Stadium on Thursday night.
If they were to win, it would take some heat off everyone concerned, but would it convince people that the Dogs were genuinely back and that all concerns had been exaggerated?
No. It would take more than that after four straight losses to finish last season and three losses in the first four rounds of this season.
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Canterbury’s only win so far this season was against the Warriors, whose only win was against Newcastle, whose only win was against Gold Coast.
The Titans are 12th on the table, the Bulldogs 13th, the Warriors 14th and the Knights 15th.
We’re not exactly talking about a group of teams that are excelling at the moment.
If the Bulldogs were to lose to the Broncos, or, worse still, lose heavily, it would put the club under enormous pressure to make a call on the coach.
Hasler is a great coach, who would be unlikely to have any trouble getting another head coaching job in the NRL in time for next season. Maybe even this season if an opening at another club coincided with him being available.
Splitting with the Bulldogs wouldn’t affect his reputation. It would just one of those things that is sometimes better off happening in sport.
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