Des Not an Over night fix....

[maxta]

Have seen and heard plenty of hype over the re appointment of Des Hasler as the Manly coach.
Pretty much that instant success is here and expectations that are sky high.
Well we needed something and the club got it right bringing in Des and some old school Manly recruits, to help a sinking ship before it went under and personally - I'm stoked with the call.
Thing is the culture takes time to rebuild on the field amongst the players, sure its great to have a fitter, hungrier squad who won't give up like some games the past few seasons, but this is earned in the heat of battle.
Really think its important to appreciate the backbone is now here, but there's a heap of tough times to get back to the glory days.
Also think as good as Des is in motivating, will need to see what style he brings in....particularly in attack.
A Des coached footy team will hurt in defence and generally make the opposition work for points , so this keeps you in games unlike those 10-20 minute patches in 2018 where the side gave up a quick 3-4 tries.

To have a team you know will give everything is a great start and I feel that's what Des and co bring in 2019, which is good enough for me, just hope fans have a little patience early on as good things take time to build.

 

[manly al]

Think that some aspects can be improved on automatically such as better organized and tighter defence , hopefully more repeat sets to put more pressure on the opposition and some more expansive game plans in attack . Really need quite a few of the young guys to step up naturally and Des and his coaching entourage can certainly provide some positive encouragement there . Also definitely need Siro and API back to their best . Still two positions left in the top 30 ? plenty of players on one year deals , so quite a bit of motivation and incentive for many to strive for some decent performances . Team lists and overall performances in next weeks trial should give some indication where things are now and for the future prospects . It will however not be entirely Des 's input that will be determining what type of a season transpires , plenty of other factors also of course and as usual .

 

[Disco]

I think the squad is not nearly as bad as their recent performances.

Therefore with some structure, fitness and coaching I expect a reasonable bounce back. A lot has been said about our outside backs but for me the key piece is Kane Elgey. If he can fire...or failing that Hodko, Cust or Metcalfe can then I see us in the hunt for the 8

Of course you are right, we won't go from premiership also-rans to contenders straight away but I definitely see rosier times ahead.

I also have some Des concerns as his final years at the Bulldogs left a lot to be desired..........however the Bulldogs didn't have a strikepower of Turbo, Walker, DCE, Sirro and Api.

The first big indicator for me will be whether he stifles Api.......if not that will be a good indication that he is adapting

 

[Dan]

Have seen and heard plenty of hype over the re appointment of Des Hasler as the Manly coach.
Pretty much that instant success is here and expectations that are sky high.
Well we needed something and the club got it right bringing in Des and some old school Manly recruits, to help a sinking ship before it went under and personally - I'm stoked with the call.
Thing is the culture takes time to rebuild on the field amongst the players, sure its great to have a fitter, hungrier squad who won't give up like some games the past few seasons, but this is earned in the heat of battle.
Really think its important to appreciate the backbone is now here, but there's a heap of tough times to get back to the glory days.
Also think as good as Des is in motivating, will need to see what style he brings in....particularly in attack.
A Des coached footy team will hurt in defence and generally make the opposition work for points , so this keeps you in games unlike those 10-20 minute patches in 2018 where the side gave up a quick 3-4 tries.

To have a team you know will give everything is a great start and I feel that's what Des and co bring in 2019, which is good enough for me, just hope fans have a little patience early on as good things take time to build.

I think most will agree that we don't expect an overnight success, but I think most also feel like we expect more than what we saw over the past few years. The thing we always had were the cattle, great players, in fact some of the best at those positions in the league.
What we lacked was mainly attitude, team cohesion and to an extent fitness.

The things Hasler has always been good at are getting attitudes right, getting players to play for and as a team, and finally fitness.

Whilst I dont see us winning the comp this year, I do see a significant turn around in how we close out games, I expect the Manly grind to come back into it and I expect to see every player putting themselves on the line for the person next to us.

The thing that typifies Hasler teams is attitude and never say die, I think of the times you saw mid thousands Manly players hitting the ball up on one leg, but doing it for the team, that is what I want to see

 

[MadMarcus]

This is a good point. I’d settle for a premiership this year, even if we only win by a few points, but we’ll probably need to wait until 2020 for a 30+ point GF victory and a World Club Challenge title. People need to be realistic.

 

[Woodsie]

The big problem has been solved .....

For at least 6 years the club has been progressively under resourced and for at least the past 4 years has been run on a "shoe-string" ...we were the poor under-priveldged of the comp .... and that attitude went right through the club .... we may differ on what the catalyst for change was ... but one thing for certain is the purse strings have been opened .... and the winner is Manly ....

We now have a coaching and fitness staff the envy of the league ..... Dessie is just the cherry on top ..... attitude and enthusiasm has returned .... and not just the players, I;m talking the office staff, sales, marketing etc .... everybody at the club ...

This has not just been a change of coach ..... it has been a monumental shift in who is running the club .....

Top 8 ... all day ... every day ....

PSS ... and they better taste success sooner rather than later, because the bloke paying the bills will be counting the cost and will only remain silent and in the back seat for so long ... ....

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I see a big improvement in attitude and defence, Des won’t stand for anything less.

And this will equate out at more wins than we had in 2018, but the big question is how many??

I still stand behind finishing about 10th, and I’d be pleased with that.

Any higher and I’d be over the moon.

 

[HoldenV8]

Interesting little bit with DCE here. Not only does he only refer to Barrett as the "last coach" and not by name, but he also says that training sessions are completely different under Des with players no longer being able to get away with taking short cuts.....

If that is a pointer to how we trained under Barrett.....its no wonder we not only looked like a rabble out there in games, but that some of the players were not anywhere near as fit as they should have been.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/02/18...JgzKcwYriXPMw88-bbRcEfhwcB_tSfYq_GYtCl17bHfyU

 

[BOZO]

I think most will agree that we don't expect an overnight success, but I think most also feel like we expect more than what we saw over the past few years. The thing we always had were the cattle, great players, in fact some of the best at those positions in the league.
What we lacked was mainly attitude, team cohesion and to an extent fitness.

The things Hasler has always been good at are getting attitudes right, getting players to play for and as a team, and finally fitness.

Whilst I dont see us winning the comp this year, I do see a significant turn around in how we close out games, I expect the Manly grind to come back into it and I expect to see every player putting themselves on the line for the person next to us.

The thing that typifies Hasler teams is attitude and never say die, I think of the times you saw mid thousands Manly players hitting the ball up on one leg, but doing it for the team, that is what I want to see

BINGO !!!

 

[BK13]

No quick fix for wins and results. But definitely a quick fix to me for defence and resilience.

Defence is all about attitude (sure there is technique etc etc), but like most sports, defence in rugby league is not sexy, it's about putting in the effort for your team and turning up when tired, and making that 3rd, 4th effort when you could easily say 'nah not my problem'.

Glad to see the article above about no short cuts. That sums up Des to me and the attitude he will instill. There are no short cuts and there are no excuses. Those things from before like supposed rubbish gym facilities....Des would have the attitude, well let's use that to show theses pampered nancies in other teams we don't need the latest gear.

 

[BOZO]

The big problem has been solved .....

For at least 6 years the club has been progressively under resourced and for at least the past 4 years has been run on a "shoe-string" ...we were the poor under-priveldged of the comp .... and that attitude went right through the club .... we may differ on what the catalyst for change was ... but one thing for certain is the purse strings have been opened .... and the winner is Manly ....

We now have a coaching and fitness staff the envy of the league ..... Dessie is just the cherry on top ..... attitude and enthusiasm has returned .... and not just the players, I;m talking the office staff, sales, marketing etc .... everybody at the club ...

This has not just been a change of coach ..... it has been a monumental shift in who is running the club .....

Top 8 ... all day ... every day ....

PSS ... and they better taste success sooner rather than later, because the bloke paying the bills will be counting the cost and will only remain silent and in the back seat for so long ... ....

Top 8 ... all day ... every day ....
Love your sense of faith and confidence in Des @Woodsie . Winning a premiership may be a bit over the top but with the squad that we have a top 8 should be achievable by a great coach !
Top 8 is a very very realistic expectation .

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

As hard as they are I can take losses , providing our players are trying their guts out.

What I can’t stand is capitulation, the like we saw many times in 2018.

That Panthers game is seared into my memory bank, if we do just do one thing this year and eradicate that I’ll be happy.

 

[bob dylan]

I don't think Des is the Mesiah. He was absolutely clueless at the Dogs for the last 18 moths, and with a half decent roster but his halves were a disaster.

I know one thing for certain, he will set the team in the right direction. I'll bet my boy-bits if he is still around the club in 5 years time Manly will have tasted some major success, maybe even a premiership.

I love that Ballin and Stewart are back involved. Donny too.

Lets hope the owner sticks to what he knows best, I am not sure what that is but it has nothing to do with football.

As a side note I wonder what happens if we are 2-8 after 10 or end up bottom 3??? If Walker gets punted (highly likely if he is found guilty) and a serious injury to say DCE or Jake or Tom would almost ensure a bottom 4 finish (I doubt there is a team in NRL that could afford to lose 2 players of their calibre).

I scares me what Penn's expect or will be happy with.

 

[robbiea]

As hard as they are I can take losses , providing our players are trying their guts out.

What I can’t stand is capitulation, the like we saw many times in 2018.

That Panthers game is seared into my memory bank, if we do just do one thing this year and eradicate that I’ll be happy.

^This ,plus top eight.......

 

[BOZO]

I believe Des will 100% be an overnight fix from the catastrophic disaster rookie no idea , no solutions Trent who nearly lead us to our first ever wooden spoon .
There are no gaurantees for any team wining the grand final but having Hasler is having Hope . We never had any hope under Trent .

Do I seriously believe we can win the comp . Fcking oath . Why ? Because we have a mix of elite , International , and up and coming stars made to shine even brighter with a proven grand final winning coach . Now that is a great mix to mix it and compete with the best

The moral of the story .....
There is a saying...... in lifeyou get what you expect and I find it very sad that some people do not have the belief , courage and confidence in them selves and not believe that whilst there is a will there is always a way to the very top and history has proved this in every field in life .

The Sea eagles for premiership glory in 2019 ? Why not . Try and fcking stop us !!!

 

[HoldenV8]

As hard as they are I can take losses , providing our players are trying their guts out.

What I can’t stand is capitulation, the like we saw many times in 2018.

That Panthers game is seared into my memory bank, if we do just do one thing this year and eradicate that I’ll be happy.

Losing still sucks the big one, but so long as they are giving it their all then you can't really ask for any more. But almost rolling over and dying like that Panthers game, and a few others last season.....that is not the sort of thing that has made this club the most successful club over the past 50 years.

And if what DCE said in that interview was a dig at Barrett's coaching methods....then FMD I am glad Zoolander and his hair gel are gone from the club.

 

[BOZO]

Losing still sucks the big one, but so long as they are giving it their all then you can't really ask for any more. But almost rolling over and dying like that Panthers game, and a few others last season.....that is not the sort of thing that has made this club the most successful club over the past 50 years.

And if what DCE said in that interview was a dig at Barrett's coaching methods....then FMD I am glad Zoolander and his hair gel are gone from the club.

"FMD I am glad Zoolander and his hair gel are gone from the club."
One of your best LOL !!!

 

[davohan123]

I don't think Des is the Mesiah. He was absolutely clueless at the Dogs for the last 18 moths, and with a half decent roster but his halves were a disaster.

I know one thing for certain, he will set the team in the right direction. I'll bet my boy-bits if he is still around the club in 5 years time Manly will have tasted some major success, maybe even a premiership.

I love that Ballin and Stewart are back involved. Donny too.

Lets hope the owner sticks to what he knows best, I am not sure what that is but it has nothing to do with football.

As a side note I wonder what happens if we are 2-8 after 10 or end up bottom 3??? If Walker gets punted (highly likely if he is found guilty) and a serious injury to say DCE or Jake or Tom would almost ensure a bottom 4 finish (I doubt there is a team in NRL that could afford to lose 2 players of their calibre).

I scares me what Penn's expect or will be happy with.

You are right on the money

Think Des will steer us as club in the right direction but people have to remember this is not his squad in 2019 really leftovers from our last coach.

Des will totally change our mind set and will see us be more competitive but as you said we are 2 or 3 major season ending injuries away from being a bottom 4 side.

I think 2020 will be the year where we can fully judge Des full salary cap to use and dead weight gone from the club.

Think we will finish somewhere anywhere from 7th -13th

 

[HoldenV8]

You are right on the money

Think Des will steer us as club in the right direction but people have to remember this is not his squad in 2019 really leftovers from our last coach.

Des will totally change our mind set and will see us be more competitive but as you said we are 2 or 3 major season injuries from being a bottom 4 side.

I think 2020 will be the year where we can fully judge Des full salary cap to use and dead weight gone from the club.

Think we will finish somewhere anywhere from 7th -13th

Have to agree there. I am not expecting miracles in 2019 so I doubt that well win the premiership, or even still be there come Grand Final day. But I am expecting a lot of improvement in both the way we play and our overall fitness as a team.

Right now he is stuck with the majority of Barrett's squad, though I think we're all expecting a fairly big clean out at the end of this season.

Personally, I'm expecting us to finish anywhere from 6th to around 10th.

 

[Class of 96]

PSS ... and they better taste success sooner rather than later, because the bloke paying the bills will be counting the cost and will only remain silent and in the back seat for so long ... ....

That bloke with the towel on his head and long flowing gown from Saudi Arabia is planning to throw $3billion at Manchester United, so $20M would only be pocket money for him to buy our club.