ManlyBacker
Winging it
John Greco MD
05Dec07
MANLY coach Des Hasler's ambition to be a career mentor at the Sea Eagles, much in the mould of Wayne Bennett at Brisbane, looks like it will come to fruition with the club set to offer him a contract extension.
Hasler, who guided the Sea Eagles to the 2007 NRL grand final, has a year to run on his existing deal. But the 46-year-old has already signalled his intentions to stay beyond 2008 and is keen to extend his stay for at least a further two or three years.
The former international, who has expressed his desire to become the club's longest serving coach, has made it clear he only wants to stay at Manly after spending the bulk of his playing days at Brookvale Oval.
``Des has shown he is one of the best young coaches in the game and we have no intention of letting him go anywhere,'' Manly CEO Grant Mayer said.
``Talks will continue but we haven't put any deadline on it.
``He's still got a year to run on his current deal and we're just going through the finer details of his extension.''
While eager to secure his own future at the Sea Eagles, Hasler has told club management to concentrate on securing Australian fullback Brett Stewart to a long-term deal first.
Stewart also comes off contract at the end of next season and the Sea Eagles coach has urged club officials to make the retention of the speedy fullback the top priority. ``We've been talking to Des and have gone a fair way down the track with him but he'd prefer we get the Brett Stewart situation sorted before going any further,'' Mayer said.
``We are looking at securing Brett for a further three or four years and believe we are pretty close to achieving that. I wouldn't expect it to be too much longer before we have an announcement on that front.''
05Dec07
MANLY coach Des Hasler's ambition to be a career mentor at the Sea Eagles, much in the mould of Wayne Bennett at Brisbane, looks like it will come to fruition with the club set to offer him a contract extension.
Hasler, who guided the Sea Eagles to the 2007 NRL grand final, has a year to run on his existing deal. But the 46-year-old has already signalled his intentions to stay beyond 2008 and is keen to extend his stay for at least a further two or three years.
The former international, who has expressed his desire to become the club's longest serving coach, has made it clear he only wants to stay at Manly after spending the bulk of his playing days at Brookvale Oval.
``Des has shown he is one of the best young coaches in the game and we have no intention of letting him go anywhere,'' Manly CEO Grant Mayer said.
``Talks will continue but we haven't put any deadline on it.
``He's still got a year to run on his current deal and we're just going through the finer details of his extension.''
While eager to secure his own future at the Sea Eagles, Hasler has told club management to concentrate on securing Australian fullback Brett Stewart to a long-term deal first.
Stewart also comes off contract at the end of next season and the Sea Eagles coach has urged club officials to make the retention of the speedy fullback the top priority. ``We've been talking to Des and have gone a fair way down the track with him but he'd prefer we get the Brett Stewart situation sorted before going any further,'' Mayer said.
``We are looking at securing Brett for a further three or four years and believe we are pretty close to achieving that. I wouldn't expect it to be too much longer before we have an announcement on that front.''
