NRL 2024: Titans back Des Hasler to deliver premiership glory as he braces for Manly grudge match

For the first time since his 2022 sacking, Des Hasler is set to come face-to-face with the club that sacked him, and the man who replaced him, Anthony Seibold. This is how they both fought back from NRL oblivion.

Des and Seibs go head-to-head.

The Titans are adamant Des Hasler will deliver NRL premiership glory to the Gold Coast as he prepares for a duel with the man that replaced him at Manly – Anthony Seibold.

Hasler and Seibold will go head-to-head when the Titans host the Sea Eagles at Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday night.

The round 7 clash will be the first time Hasler has confronted Manly – the club he guided to the 2008 and 2011 titles – since he was controversially shown the door in 2022 to make way for Seibold’s coaching revival.

Since then, Hasler has been locked in a $1.2 million courtroom battle with the Sea Eagles and lost his first five games in charge of Gold Coast after taking over the Titans this season.

But the Titans are confident they have the right man in charge to finally transform the club into NRL premiership contenders and are backing Hasler to triumph.

“The results haven’t been there but we’re pretty confident we’ve got the right personnel,” Titans chairman Dennis Watt said.

Despite their poor start to the 2024 season, the Titans are confident coach Des Hasler can finally deliver a premiership for the Gold Coast.

“We’re all disappointed that we haven’t started the way we wanted with the investments we’ve made.

“We’ve got a premiership coach in Des. There’s a lot of things in place that will assure long-term success.

“Des has a track record of doing it, taking on new groups and being successful with them.”

THE DES-URRECTION

Hasler, 63, jokes that it takes him four hours to watch an 80-minute game of footy.

The Foxtel remote in the Hasler household could be the most abused in Australia. Pause, rewind, play, fast forward, repeat.

His family can’t stand watching matches on television with the 463-game coach, but that’s as close as Hasler got to the NRL during his 2023 “gap year”.

So you can imagine their joy when Hasler’s phone rang one day in early June last year and on the other end was Titans CEO Steve Mitchell with a job offer.

“They called up and I said ‘yeah sure, who’s geeing me up now?’ I’ve had some gee-up merchants in my time,” Hasler recalled.

“I said I’ll think about it, contemplate it and it went from there.”

What followed was two clandestine meetings between Hasler, his long-time agent George Mimis, Mitchell and Watt in Sydney.

The Titans moved in the shadows of darkness, and behind the back of coach Justin Holbrook, to secure Hasler on a three-year contract.

The Titans went behind the back of former coach Justin Holbrook, securing Des Hasler as a replacement before sacking him. Picture: Getty Images

At 11.39am on June 22 last year, the day after Queensland clinched back-to-back Origin series victories, an email lobbed in the inbox of NRL journalists from the Titans with the subject “Club statement: Head coach update”.

It announced Holbrook had been axed following three-and-a-half seasons and buried in the fifth paragraph was the news Hasler was heading to the Gold Coast.

“It was the most clinical and brilliantly executed contract signing I’ve been involved in 30 years in the game,” Mimis said last year.

“Between Steve and Dennis … they knew what they wanted and came and got it. They are classy operators, but the board and ownership knew what they wanted.

“They were in a position where they could have still made the finals, but they were trying to find success.”

Despite making low-key trips to the Titans’ headquarters at Parkwood, particularly to convince free agents Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and David Fifita to not quit the club following Holbrook’s dismissal, Hasler maintained a dignified public silence for months.

But he was working hard behind the scenes after being given the keys to the Gold Coast by the Titans’ wealthy owners, commissioning a purpose-built wrestling dojo and granting the bulk of Holbrook’s staff 12 months to prove their worth while he sharpened his axe.

When he finally broke his silence over lunch with this masthead at a blustery Burleigh Pavilion in October, Hasler spoke openly about his move to the Titans and why he still had what it took to succeed in the NRL.

Hasler insisted he still had what it took to succeed in the NRL when he signed on as Titans coach. Picture: Getty Images

“Being a spent force … that’s disrespectful. Don’t use spent force,” Hasler fired in one testy exchange.

“I’ve been involved with rugby league for over 40 years. Where I’m at now, I coach because I really enjoy it. I don’t have to.

“Some coaches have to do it because they’ve got families or have to pay the bills. I simply enjoy coaching.

“I feel like I’ve never been away from it. You’re out but never out, you’re watching the footy.

“I didn’t need refreshing, it was just the way it panned out.”

There was only one topic strictly off-limits – his controversial exit from Manly and the $1.2 million payout dispute that was, and remains, before the courts.

SEIBOLD’S SECOND COMING

It has been 643 days since Manly beat Newcastle 42-12 in round 18 of the 2022 NRL Premiership at 4 Pines Park, affectionately known as Brookvale Oval.

That may seem insignificant, but it was the last time Hasler celebrated victory in an NRL match before his Sea Eagles went on a seven-match losing streak amid the pride jersey saga leading up to his sacking.

Hasler sat out the entire 2023 season and has lost all five games during his first year in charge of the Titans, a controversial golden point defeat to Canberra last week robbing him of a drought-breaking victory.

Powerbrokers at Parkwood have vowed to remain patient as Hasler plots his pathway to success but they are desperate for a win, or at least a sign the Titans are improving following their decision to sack Holbrook.

In the away team’s coaches’ box at Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday night will sit Anthony Seibold, the man Manly identified as the chosen one to replace Hasler before the civil war of 2022 erupted.

After a mixed debut campaign for Manly, the Sea Eagles have come back to life in 2024 under Anthony Seibold. Picture: David Becker

After a mediocre 2023 campaign in charge of the Sea Eagles, in which they finished 12th, Manly has come back to life this year, much like Seibold’s coaching career following his Broncos sacking in 2020.

Seibold picked up the pieces of his career with the English Rugby Union and as an assistant at Newcastle before landing the Manly job, which has seen some familiar faces join him.

One of those is ex-Broncos prop Matt Lodge, who will make his return from a serious knee injury against the Titans and insists that Seibold has returned to the game a better coach.

“Obviously he is continually learning – he is a good listener and learner,” Lodge said.

“A lot of things are similar (to Brisbane) but we have a good group that wants to buy into everything he says.

“The boys are buying in and he has a good leadership group. Sometimes the environment up there (in Brisbane) can be tough.

“He is definitely relaxed, and like I said, he is nice and honest. You trust him and what he says, he does. He is nice and honest with all the players.

“I appreciate that in any form in my life. If you are doing the wrong thing they can be honest with you. Seibs and I have always had a good relationship.”

After falling apart during his time as Broncos coach, Anthony Seibold has come back to the game a better coach, according to Matt Lodge. Picture: AAP

The Titans and Sea Eagles have done their best to avoid inflaming tensions heading into Saturday night’s showdown.

Publicly, they’ll claim it’s just another game worth two competition points, but beneath the surface there is more on the line.

Hasler, nearing two years between NRL victories, and the Titans desperately need a win and vindication they made the right move. The coach would love nothing more than to break his drought against the club that sacked him.

For Manly chiefs it’s an opportunity to inflict more pain on Hasler as the bitter courtroom fallout to their 2022 divorce wages on.

If nothing, the demise and rise of Des is must-watch entertainment that shows no sign of stopping.

Originally published as NRL 2024: Titans back Des Hasler to deliver premiership glory as he braces for Manly grudge match