'It's not about this old fossil': Des Hasler and the rebirth of Manly

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Mitch

Bencher
Really good read from Andrew Webster, not just on Des but the reconnection of the club to the Northern Beaches community.

The first thing you need to know is that Des Hasler doesn’t want this to be about him. His final instructions: “I’m hoping the community, club and players are the focus — not this old fossil”.

This doesn’t surprise. The best coaches would never talk publicly about themselves. They’d never set themselves up for the fall.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/it...and-the-rebirth-of-manly-20190830-p52mbg.html
 
Really good read from Andrew Webster, not just on Des but the reconnection of the club to the Northern Beaches community.

The first thing you need to know is that Des Hasler doesn’t want this to be about him. His final instructions: “I’m hoping the community, club and players are the focus — not this old fossil”.

This doesn’t surprise. The best coaches would never talk publicly about themselves. They’d never set themselves up for the fall.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/it...and-the-rebirth-of-manly-20190830-p52mbg.html
What a great article.
When we signed Des I expected change.
I expected far better results.
But nothing like what has been delivered.
And it seems the, hardly ever heard about, off field good teams do has reflected the teams amazing on field results.
Thank you Dessie...
 
Three key points in the article

1. What a humble man Des is . He just lets his effort and success do the talking

2. What amazing work our players do for our community . Unsung heroes

3. Uncovers our mediocre time under Trent

Last year, some fans regularly spotted Barrett, members of his coaching staff and even some of his players draining schooners at a local pub.

Then they would watch their team lose at the weekend and, soon enough, they had their answer.

Hasler would never put himself or his players in that situation. His players wouldn’t do that to him.
 
The players individually and as a team have collectively agreed, they don’t want to let the old fossil down....as a fan, his love of the Manly club has inspired most fans, just when we really needed it most.
 
Last year, some fans regularly spotted Barrett, members of his coaching staff and even some of his players draining schooners at a local pub.

Then they would watch their team lose at the weekend and, soon enough, they had their answer.

Hasler would never put himself or his players in that situation. His players wouldn’t do that to him.

Yep, overpaid and unmotivated buddies to professional footballers with pride and respect. What a huge transformation and what an even greater difference on and off the pitch.

What we have coming back now is close to what Manly has always been.

Now we are on the right track with many of our greatest returning in some way our focus for the near future should be on bringing Max, Tooves, Killer, Skivvy and eventually Choc back to the fold.

When, and not if, that happens we will be truly Manly again... and all the other clubs know what pain that will bring them.
 
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Yep, overpaid and unmotivated buddies to professional footballers with pride and respect. What a huge transformation and what an even greater difference on and off the pitch.

What we have coming back now is close to what Manly has always been.

Now we are on the right track with many of our greatest returning in some way our focus for the near future should be on bringing Max, Tooves, Killer, Skivvy and eventually Choc back to the fold.

When, and not if, that happens we will be truly Manly again... and all the other clubs know what pain that will bring them.
Can you imagine the shock of the off season they got?
But I reckon that's what they wanted.
And it shows...
 
“All these players have always been good footy players. They’ve always been able to play at the standard they are now. To get this far, there has to be something there.

- This is what I think when sometimes we go "We should put 30 points on this team". That to get to the nrl it's not as if the opposition are bad and we should always treat them accordingly. I usually think of the 1995 SOO series where a group of no names from Qld beat the star studded nsw side 3-0/

That waffle aside (mmmm waffles) a very good article, I'm not surprised it's by Mr. Webster. But beware of monkey typists bearing platitudes. (I think Socrates said that.)

Edit: And......Oops:

Because people on the peninsula talk. They know what’s going on, with each other and particularly their footy side. They couldn’t understand why the Sea Eagles were playing so poorly.

Last year, some fans regularly spotted Barrett, members of his coaching staff and even some of his players draining schooners at a local pub.

Then they would watch their team lose at the weekend and, soon enough, they had their answer.
 
When Mr Hasler was a teacher at St Pius X Chatswood in the late 80's he would always deny that Des Hasler and him were the same person.

"But Mr Hasler why did Michael O'Connor pick you up yesterday?"
"Mr Hasler how come you have the same cut above your eye as the Manly halfback?"
"Mr Hasler why do you have the worlds biggest lunch box?"
 
Great story - and this reconnection to the community is also credit to Lyall and the back office team as it has been part of their strategy when Lyall started.

Top stuff and Des drove it and the players bought into it
 
Great article on Des and the team. But boy does it paint a bad picture on TB's drinking culture..
images (11).jpeg
 
Scott Penn needs to make sure what happened in 2011 after GF never happens again. How many premierships would we have won between now and then if we had of retained Des.
 
I actually think this is my favourite ever Manly article
 

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