Citizenship fiasco: Hasler survives despite doubts he's a Canterbury person

Culture is part of it,passion is part of it,attitude is part of it,player roster is part of it,the coach is definately part of it,players enjoying their football and playing for each other is obviously a part of it..all of these things are not evident at Canterbury now..I think the buck stops with the coach,if the coach cannot instill or provide these factors for a team...then he has to go..

You're missing the point and it's getting tiring explaining it. It's all well and good star players, yes they had good teams, but have a look at the number of rep games that Bulldogs players from the 1980, mid 80s teams, 1988 and mid 90s played compared to more fancied teams. Just saying "they had the best players" is a pretty poor explanation. Cultures not just about on field results anyway. Culture is a thing. It's funny that so many sports fans try to deny it when sports teams that have it are among the best examples of orgsnational culture and business often tries to replicate sporting culture.

Boys, there are rooms for this sort of thing.

Well played

Bull. Aside from the mid 90's Canterbury historically won premierships because they: 1. Had Steve Mortimer in his prime 2. Created a monster forward pack (including buying from elsewhere) and had Steve Mortimer and Terry Lamb 3. Had Terry Lamb and Balmain did not have Ellory Hanley for very long, and 4. Had a team that was systematically put together over the salary cap. The Bulldogs were always my NSWRL team, prior to QLD entering a team, but it was never the 'culture'. It was always the star players and coaches.

Great work TB . That's a great description of the mystery that is club culture . I imagine it is increasingly more difficult for any club to rely upon culture as a motivator these days with players and coaches changing their allegiance so frequently now . For this reason alone it is easy to see why fans seem to pick up on it way before anyone else .As to what is happening at the Dogs , is hard to pin point . Hasler can coach . The players can play . If you are correct , and the right culture is missing , it makes no sense that the same playing and coaching group will miraculously find it again without something to light the fuse .

With respect, that's not true Sheek. Haslers first year in 2012 the forwards included Graham, Tolman, Ennis, Kasiano, Pritchard, Eastwood, Jackson, Finucane, Halatau, Stagg and Payne. If not the best pack in the comp, in the top couple.

Barry, What I am saying is Hasler hasn't had the entire package his whole time. In the early years he had the playmakers, but not quite the pack. In recent times he's hd the pack but not the playmakers. He's a great coach & I don't know why the team isn't playing for him anymore.

I attended the fans meeting at the leagues club where Did, Castle, Hasler and Tolman fronted in a public relations exercise to placate us complainers. We were told figures to explain how the club was in a forward trajectory. We were told of the recent resignings from all 3 grades ( i'm very old school) We were told that the lack of wins is down to the fact that the players make mistakes and give away penalties. We were told that on the 6th tackle that a negative play was used so that the ball would be handed over just short of the tryline.(so in the 6 times the team has the ball, on 1 occasion they don't try to score?) We were told that if they can keep the opposition to 12 points, the team expected to win. Yes defence can be entertaining, but like I said before I'm old school but that doesn't exclude me from the majority of fans that like ball movement. Des Hasler at the meeting , seemed, in my opinion mildly annoyed and mildly arrogant. We, the supporters have a right to ask that if the talented players 3 current origin players 3 former origin players 3 international test players including an ex english captain are unable to carry out the match plan than MAYBE another plan can be formulated to match their talent. The Berries/ Bulldogs culture was always players first and second, then the fans and everyone else in the background serve

I don't think anyone is forgetting his achievements. His record is remarkable. But 2014 was almost three years ago. The Dogs football has been on a consistent decline since and this season has been an absolute disaster without the excuse of a bad run of injuries, tough draw, off field controversy or whatever. I've been a staunch defender of Hasler. His record is superb. I don't think he should be moved on unless a better replacement can be found. But his tactics are stale, the team looks passionless and there's been no discernible change all year despite the whole season gurgling around the plug hole since about round four. If there's not a marked improvement he has to go. As lack of go forward up front? The Dogs have had a great pack for his entire tenure. No halves? In 2014 he had the NSW halves. Reynolds form has gone backwards under Hasler and so has Mbye's. But Haslers been in the job for six years and until this year had all his own staff including recruitment. He can't say he hasn't had the team he wants.

How quickly we forget Hasler has already taken the Bulldogs to two GFs in 2012 & 2014 despite never having either a "full" team in terms of playmakers in the backs or sufficient go-forward up front. Frankly, I think he has already over-achieved.

Brilliantly funny article!

Brilliantly funny article!

Worse than the hit on Sattler? LOL

Correct MM he did coach Hoppa at the Tigers. Lamb was a very good player but a very ordinary coach.

I agree with Souvalis. Hasler can't blame his roster. What youngsters in key positions? Mbye's still only 23 but he's played 70+ games and is in his fourth year of first grade. Lichaa's 24, also in his fourth season and also with over 70 games. Hopoates not a youngster. Frawley is in age and experience. The team doesn't look any better with Reynolds back. The Dogs don't have a top four roster but equally they don't have a roster that sees them out of the semi final hunt with six weeks to go. At worst they should still be well and truly in the mix for a semi final berth There are few players in this team consistently playing at or near their full capability.

Are you missing the point deliberately? Best not to call something laughable that you clearly don't understand. "To think you are something special is laughable" Culture is 100% about creating something special. It's got nothing to do with outsiders can't help. Culture is about everyone within an organisation understanding and being able to articulate the organisations purpose, their role, the organisations values, the desired behaviours and consequences and ensuring their own behaviour and decision making align with that. If the desired behaviours and values are the same in 1980 as they are in 1995 and 2017, it's irrelevant that Adam Elliott has no idea who Graeme Hughes is. The Bulldogs have done that over the years but seem to be losing their way at the moment. Their current results are attributable to more than the 17 out on the park every week. If they're smart about it, they'll find the root causes of why that is and fix things up off the park before they worry about who is wearing which jersey. In other fix the culture. Maybe an 'outsider' can do that but someone who has lived the culture and helped build and maintain it, assuming all other qualifications are comparable, has a clear advantage because a) they've experienced it and more importantly b) they've already bought into it. Organisational culture is not hogwash. If you don't understand it, you don't understand it. Companies spend billions on this trying to get it right, because its vitally important.

It's possible but we are heading in the right direction. If we don't make the eight it won't be the end of civilization as we know it. It's only some of the silly fans who think like that. Good thing they have no say in what happens because Barrett and Bozo would have been long gone and half the team would be in reserve grade including Api. Silly fans don't have any impact on the way the club operates thank God.

No offence taken mate. Your last couple of sentences sums it up. The best team will usually beat the best roster. What is it that makes them a team? What is it that unifies them in purpose and intent? What makes them believe? There's lots of intangibles beyond just players and coach that make a successful team. That's culture. Culture isn't why Hasler can't coach any more, but you can't tell me that the Bulldogs season is just down to their roster. Are they playing like a unified team? Is their a clear purpose when they take the field? Are their players consistently playing at or near their best? Do the players look like they're consistently making maximum effort? Is their consistency in performance? Are there changes to team, style or structure when performance is poor? Does it appear that players are being held accountable for poor performance? All of the above are intangible behaviours that have nothing to do with how good the roster is. The Bulldogs are showing none of these things. Its the very definition of culture. Apply what you like of the above to NSW. It sticks as well.

I made numerous references to it in my post. Culture is about behaviour not performance. It's got nothing to do with we used to be good. It's about a unified club with a clear direction, sorting problems out in house rather than airing them in the media, about players putting in regardless of whether they are a rep player or a fringe first grader. It's about everyone at the club understanding their role and being held accountable for their performance. It's about accepting responsibility for performance. It's about hard decision making when results go bad, about being proactive instead of waiting for things to turn. Most of that has nothing to do with who's wearing the jersey or holding the clipboard or how they're playing. It's about the purpose and direction of the club. Most clubs aspire to this but the Bulldogs have demonstrated it consistently for 40 years I have no problem with the Dogs having an unsuccessful season - it happens everywhere - but I do have a problem with 36-0, 38-0, 42-12 losses in the same season where there appears to be less than full effort. If it's all about how good the roster is, our roster shouldn't be getting beaten by those scores. So there has to be more to it.