Des Hasler
Encyclopedia
Des Hasler is an Australian former professional rugby league
player and current head coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. He played in 309 matches in a first-grade career spanning 16 seasons. Most of his career was spent with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
, with whom he won two premierships (1987 and 1996). He subsequently coached Manly from 2004 to 2011, winning a further two premierships (2008 and 2011). As a player he also represented Australia internationally and New South Wales in State of Origin.
. In 1981 he taught Year 1 at St Thomas Aquinas Primary School in Springwood. He also taught Year 6 students and Electronics at St Pius X College
, Chatswood.
in 1982, but quickly transferred to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
where he played a total of 255 games and scored 72 tries, finishing his first grade career with a season at Western Suburbs Magpies
. He started playing in the half-back position for Manly, supplanting the talented but undependable Phil Blake
as starting halfback during the 1987 NSWRL season and they won the premiership that year. Following the grand final victory he travelled with Manly to England for the 1987 World Club Challenge
against their champions, Wigan
.
Later, Hasler made way for Geoff Toovey
at halfback, and played in a variety of roles, at lock, hooker, and in the backs. At the end of the 1990 NSWRL season, he went on the 1990 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France
.
Hasler's value as a star utility player
led to his frequent selection—albeit on the bench—in representative football. Hasler played 13 State of Origin
matches for New South Wales, scoring 2 tries during these games. His biography, The Utility Player was written by prominent Australian author and Manly-Warringah fan Thomas Keneally
and published in 1993.
Hasler also played for Australia in twelve test match
es. At the end of the 1993
season Hasler decided to play for Hull in the English Rugby League Premiership. He later returned to the Sea Eagles for the 1995
and 1996
seasons. In both of these years, the Manly Sea Eagles made the grand final
, and in 1996 won the premiership.
of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
. In the 2005, 2006
and 2007 seasons he led the team to the semi-finals for the first time since the late 1990s. Hasler gained the experience of Geoff Toovey
as assistant coach in the 2007 season. The team was a contender in the 2007 National Rugby League
premiership, and finished second on the NRL ladder, losing the grand final 34-8 Melbourne Storm
.
He coached Manly to a record breaking 40-0 2008 NRL Grand Final victory over the Melbourne Storm
.
In 2008 he was named the Rugby League International Federation's Coach of the Year at the RLIF Awards
.
After failing to win the 1987 World Club Challenge
with Manly as a player, he won it with them as coach in 2009.
He took Manly to the finals again in 2009 and 2010, but lost a final in each year to be eliminated from the finals.
He coached his 200th First Grade game on August 13, 2011 when Manly defeated their traditional rivals Parramatta
26-20 at Parramatta Stadium
. The win was also Hasler's 117th win as a coach.
In 2011 Manly finished 2nd on the NRL ladder. Manly defeated the Cowboys 42-8 at the SFS for their first finals win since 2008. Manly went on to win the 2011 NRL Grand Final
. He was named coach of the year at the RLIF Awards
.
A week after leading Manly to the 2011 premiership, Hasler signed to coach the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the 2013 season. He initially agreed to continue to coach Manly for the 2012 season, but on 11 November 2011, Manly's board of directors sacked him, alleging "serious breaches" of his contract with rumors rife of the breaches including enticing staff and players to join him at the Bulldogs from 2013. A number of Manly's coaching and administrative employees had announced they would be joining Hasler at Canterbury.
Hasler joined the Bulldogs on November 14 and will be head coach from 2012 onwards.
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
player and current head coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. He played in 309 matches in a first-grade career spanning 16 seasons. Most of his career was spent with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...
, with whom he won two premierships (1987 and 1996). He subsequently coached Manly from 2004 to 2011, winning a further two premierships (2008 and 2011). As a player he also represented Australia internationally and New South Wales in State of Origin.
Early life
Des Hasler was educated at St Dominic's College, Penrith and he trained as a primary school teacher at the Australian Catholic UniversityAustralian Catholic University
Australian Catholic University is a national public university. It has six campuses and offers programs in five faculties throughout Australia.-History:...
. In 1981 he taught Year 1 at St Thomas Aquinas Primary School in Springwood. He also taught Year 6 students and Electronics at St Pius X College
St Pius X College
St Pius X College is a Roman Catholic, non-selective, independent high school for boys, located in Chatswood, a North Shore suburb of Sydney, Australia....
, Chatswood.
Playing career
Des Hasler began his first grade career with the Penrith PanthersPenrith Panthers
The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, the top rugby league football competition in Australasia. For the 2012 NRL season they will be coached by Ivan...
in 1982, but quickly transferred to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...
where he played a total of 255 games and scored 72 tries, finishing his first grade career with a season at Western Suburbs Magpies
Western Suburbs Magpies
The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia...
. He started playing in the half-back position for Manly, supplanting the talented but undependable Phil Blake
Phil Blake
Phil Blake is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s who represented New South Wales on one occasion. Originally a half back, Blake developed into a utility player and played first grade matches in all the backline positions, as well as at hooker and lock...
as starting halfback during the 1987 NSWRL season and they won the premiership that year. Following the grand final victory he travelled with Manly to England for the 1987 World Club Challenge
1987 World Club Challenge
The 1987 World Club Challenge was only the second game of its kind to be played between Britain's and Australia's respective domestic rugby league champions...
against their champions, Wigan
Wigan Warriors
Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
.
Later, Hasler made way for Geoff Toovey
Geoff Toovey
Geoffrey "Geoff" Toovey is an Australian rugby league coach and former professional player of the late 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. He was educated at Davidson High School...
at halfback, and played in a variety of roles, at lock, hooker, and in the backs. At the end of the 1990 NSWRL season, he went on the 1990 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France
1990 Kangaroo Tour of Great Britain and France
The 1990 Kangaroo Tour was the seventeenth Kangaroo Tour, where the Australian national rugby league team travelled to Europe and played eighteen matches against British and French rugby league teams, in addition to three Test matches...
.
Hasler's value as a star utility player
Utility player
In sport, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently, a sort of jack of all trades. Sports in which the term is often used include association football , baseball, rugby, rugby league, water polo and softball....
led to his frequent selection—albeit on the bench—in representative football. Hasler played 13 State of Origin
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...
matches for New South Wales, scoring 2 tries during these games. His biography, The Utility Player was written by prominent Australian author and Manly-Warringah fan Thomas Keneally
Thomas Keneally
Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...
and published in 1993.
Hasler also played for Australia in twelve test match
Test match (rugby league)
A Test match in rugby league football is a representative match between teams representing members of the Rugby League International Federation.The definition of a Test match differs from that of an international match...
es. At the end of the 1993
New South Wales Rugby League season 1993
The 1993 NSWRL season was the eighty-sixth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. The New South Wales Rugby League's sixteen teams competed for the J. J...
season Hasler decided to play for Hull in the English Rugby League Premiership. He later returned to the Sea Eagles for the 1995
Australian Rugby League season 1995
The 1995 ARL premiership was the 88th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the first to be run by the Australian Rugby League. For the first time since 1988, the League expanded again, with the addition of four new clubs from North Queensland, Western Australia, South...
and 1996
Australian Rugby League season 1996
The 1996 ARL premiership was the 89th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be run by the Australian Rugby League...
seasons. In both of these years, the Manly Sea Eagles made the grand final
Grand Final
Grand Final is a predominantly Australian sport term used to describe a match that decides a league champion.It originated in Victoria and South Australia and has become specifically significant Australian culture...
, and in 1996 won the premiership.
Coaching
In 2004, Des Hasler was appointed head coachHead coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...
. In the 2005, 2006
National Rugby League season 2006
The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Telstra Premiership...
and 2007 seasons he led the team to the semi-finals for the first time since the late 1990s. Hasler gained the experience of Geoff Toovey
Geoff Toovey
Geoffrey "Geoff" Toovey is an Australian rugby league coach and former professional player of the late 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. He was educated at Davidson High School...
as assistant coach in the 2007 season. The team was a contender in the 2007 National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
premiership, and finished second on the NRL ladder, losing the grand final 34-8 Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
.
He coached Manly to a record breaking 40-0 2008 NRL Grand Final victory over the Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
.
In 2008 he was named the Rugby League International Federation's Coach of the Year at the RLIF Awards
2008 RLIF Awards
The 2008 RLIF Awards were presented on Monday November 17, 2008 at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia recognising achievements in the sport of rugby league from October 2007 to October 2008 ....
.
After failing to win the 1987 World Club Challenge
1987 World Club Challenge
The 1987 World Club Challenge was only the second game of its kind to be played between Britain's and Australia's respective domestic rugby league champions...
with Manly as a player, he won it with them as coach in 2009.
He took Manly to the finals again in 2009 and 2010, but lost a final in each year to be eliminated from the finals.
He coached his 200th First Grade game on August 13, 2011 when Manly defeated their traditional rivals Parramatta
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...
26-20 at Parramatta Stadium
Parramatta Stadium
Parramatta Stadium is a sports stadium situated in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.The stadium is used primarily as the home ground of Australian National Rugby League club the Parramatta Eels...
. The win was also Hasler's 117th win as a coach.
In 2011 Manly finished 2nd on the NRL ladder. Manly defeated the Cowboys 42-8 at the SFS for their first finals win since 2008. Manly went on to win the 2011 NRL Grand Final
2011 NRL Grand Final
The 2011 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the New Zealand Warriors on the afternoon of Sunday, 2 October, and it was the first time the two sides have met in a...
. He was named coach of the year at the RLIF Awards
RLIF Awards
The Rugby League International Federation currently oversees and awards the major international sporting award for rugby league on an annual basis and has done so since its inception in 2004....
.
A week after leading Manly to the 2011 premiership, Hasler signed to coach the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the 2013 season. He initially agreed to continue to coach Manly for the 2012 season, but on 11 November 2011, Manly's board of directors sacked him, alleging "serious breaches" of his contract with rumors rife of the breaches including enticing staff and players to join him at the Bulldogs from 2013. A number of Manly's coaching and administrative employees had announced they would be joining Hasler at Canterbury.
Hasler joined the Bulldogs on November 14 and will be head coach from 2012 onwards.