Monday Buzz: Former Bulldogs chairman Ray Dib says Manly must sack coach Des Hasler

The man who sacked Des Hasler at Canterbury has warned Manly to act quickly or suffer the same fate as the Bulldogs.

Des Hasler, former Canterbury coach, whose days at Manly seem numbered.

The man who sacked Des Hasler at the Canterbury Bulldogs says the Manly Sea Eagles need to do the same thing immediately.

Ray Dib was chairman of the Bulldogs when Hasler departed in tumultuous circumstances that are strikingly similar to the current power struggle on the northern beaches.

“They should do a payout now and move on,” Dib said. “Too much damage has been done to relationships. Once you lose trust there is no going back.

“It’s in the best interests of everyone. Just cut it off now because there is no hope when the two parties can’t work together.”

We can reveal Manly Sea Eagles owner and chairman Scott Penn and chief executive Tony Mestrov have privately spoken about protecting the club from the turmoil that engulfed Belmore in 2017.

The dispute at Canterbury finished up with Hasler getting a $1 million payout in an out-of-court settlement.

Des Hasler during his Canterbury days. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

The Bulldogs, since Hasler’s departure, have not finished higher than 12th on the ladder.

They are only now showing signs of recovery.

This is why Manly is taking the power away from Hasler.

“He’s been head coach, head of recruitment, head of football and CEO for too long,” said one Manly insider, “Des wants to control everything.”

Manly keep looking back to some horrible mistakes that were made at Canterbury in recruitment while Dessie was running the show.

In 2015, they foolishly offloaded Michael Ennis (for Michael Lichaa) and Dale Finucane to Melbourne Storm.

The next year they let Shaun Lane and Damien Cook go.

In 2019, two years after Hasler left, the Morris brothers Josh and Brett were forced out by salary cap pressure that Hasler’s big back-ended contracts created.

Ray Dib. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Front page of The Daily Telegraph.

These included under-performing Greg Eastwood and Tony ‘T Rex’ Williams, who were earning $800,000-a-season towards the end of the contracts.

This is why Manly have got on the front foot with Hasler.

It has become such a bitter power struggle with Hasler’s camp now even threatening legal action.

It’s sad and could be seen as disrespectful that such a coaching legend is being squeezed out so ruthlessly.

Yet you can almost understand that the club needs to go in a new direction.

They can’t afford five years of terrible results like the Bulldogs have experienced.

They now see their future in former South Sydney and Broncos coach Anthony Seibold.

And they want a football club structured in a way where the head coach has nowhere near the power and authority that Hasler has had at Brookvale for years.

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