Anthony Watmough admits he’ll be sorry to see Des Hasler leave Manly but insists the NRL premiers won’t be weakened greatly by his departure to Canterbury.
Hasler stunned the Sea Eagles on Saturday by confirming he would leave at the end of the 2012 season after leading the club to two premierships in his eight-year stint to take up a lucrative role with the Bulldogs.
Assistant coach Geoff Toovey was given a two-year contract on Monday night to take over when Hasler departs and there is speculation fellow Manly greats Steve Menzies and Cliff Lyon will be his support staff.
Both Watmough and Sea Eagles teammate Tony Williams gave their endorsement to Toovey when interviewed earlier in the day at the Australia Test team’s hotel in Newcastle.
Watmough denied he had a get-out clause in his contract should Hasler leave the club and said reports that the coach’s departure will lead to mass exodus were wide of the mark.
“I’ll have to check with manager and see, but it’s news to me that I’ll be leaving,” the NSW and Test backrower told AAP on Monday.
“At the end of the day, there’s a bond between the players at Manly, it is the players that hold that place together.
“We’ve stuck solid, we’ve been to hell and back and always been together.
“We’re losing Dessie and that sucks and is going to hurt, but we have players on contract and we’re there to do a job and the board’s job is to take care of everything else.”
The 28-year-old also believes the new boss will inherit a set of players with a winning culture.
“We don’t have to change anything, we just have to do what we have been doing,” he said.
Manly five-eighth Kieran Foran confirmed he did have a get-out clause in his deal, but hosed down speculation he’d be following Hasler.
Asked at the New Zealand Four Nations camp on Monday why he had the clause written into his contract, Foran said: “Probably because I rate Des Hasler as a very good coach.
“I’m very happy at Manly, I love the Manly club and I’d like to continue my playing future there.”
The 21-year-old says news of Hasler’s exit breaking just days after Manly lifted the premiership trophy had taken the shine off the triumph.
“It wasn’t great timing to be honest we were all on a pretty good high after the win against the Warriors and it came crashing down soon after with the news about Dessie leaving,” Foran said.
“We all love Dessie, we wanted him to hang around for many years to come but it’s not to be so it was a pretty sober mood after that news.”
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