SuperCoach v SuperCoach

[Pittwater Legend]

The second half of the season will see a great rivalry resume with Des Hasler as Manly coach taking on Craig Bellamy. The last time these two met when Des was at Manly, all hell broke loose as the biggest fight of the NRL era unfolded at Brookvale. Because of suspensions, Adam Blair missed the rest of the season for his involvement in the fight, Glenn Stewart only just made it back in time for the grand final and Darcy Lussick was cruelly denied a chance to earn a spot in the first grade team leading into the grand final despite being a hero on the night for Manly. These two coaches will face off twice this regular season before possibly meeting again in the finals.

While we’ve got some time off due to the bye, I decided to see how these super coaches currently stack up against each other in Manly v Melbourne matches.

Wins

Des Hasler - 9
Craig Bellamy - 1*

*Craig is deducted 6 wins due to salary cap breaches from 2006-2009

Interestingly, Des won the first 3 matches between these two coaches. Craig’s first victory over Des occurred in the first year they began rorting the salary cap (2006). Craig’s only legitimate victory over Des came in the final year of Des’ first coaching stint at Manly (2011).

 

[Pittwater Legend]

FWIW, our little legend Geoff Toovey had a fair record against Craig Bellamy with 3 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses. The draw was a controversial one in which the refs did pretty much everything they could to try and hand victory to the Storm. Melbourne won the penalty count 10-5 at home. If you want to further see what a farkin rort that result was, check out the stats below where it shows that Melbourne had 65% possession in the entire game. 54 sets with the ball in hand and Melbourne only scored 1 try in the game. Your referees that night? Shayne Hayne and Matt Cecchin. Had the result of that game gone the way it should have, Geoff Toovey would have had an even record against the supercoach.

 

[maxta]

Des is the ultimate coach for Manly, but Bellamy is a Super coach in his own right.
Both are Top shelf , but Des has that Manly blood which cannot be duplicated....

 

[KOMORI]

Martina’s record would be a little different, if (hypothetically speaking) the Scum’s systematic rorting only resulted in them having some asterisks places against their names. Imagine if they were forced to move on the best spine in the game at the time, instead of having that ever present brilliance with which to build a team upon every year?

Imagine if the NRL had cracked down on their filthy tactics BEFORE a player broke his neck, and other players were outed for lengthy periods due to the “innovative” chicken wing, crusher and cannonball tackles? They won premierships thanks to these tactics and rorts.

Kick them out of the comp and expunge them from the records forever. Filthy cheats.