Locker Room: The Ben Hunt decision that says everything about the Titans

Titans chair Rebecca Frizelle has spoken about the Titans’ sluggish start under new coach Des Hasler, who is headed for the first wooden spoon of his career unless the club makes a drastic decision, writes DAVID RICCIO.

The greatest kick in the guts to Des Hasler and the Titans isn’t their winless start to the year.

It isn’t that the befuddled Titans are tracking at the same dismal strike-rate (zero wins after three games) as they were in 2019 when they collected the wooden spoon.

It isn’t that they’re last in the NRL for tries scored or that they have missed more tackles (39.6 per game) than any other team, which is even more stark given they only needed to tackle bags in round two because of the bye.

No, the reality of the Gold Coast’s state of emergency emerged this week when Ben Hunt began discussions with the Dragons about staying on in the Red-V.

Not more than nine months ago, Hunt was willing to hitchhike his way home to Queensland. The Titans seemed the perfect landing.

The never-say-die playmaker may be ageing, but he could still walk into the Titans team and be the best player in that side.

But right now, why would he?

Des Hasler has had a winless start to the year at his new club. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Hunt, frustrated for so long over the direction of the Dragons, can now see there’s light down south under coach Shane Flanagan.

As for the Titans, go and talk to Hasler’s closest confidantes and they are calling it the greatest challenge of his coaching career.

The coach will need a miracle to avoid the dreaded utensil he has so brilliantly dodged across a career spanning 19 seasons and 461 games.

Many felt Hasler’s arrival to the Gold Coast would resemble something similar to a 12-week Jenny Craig challenge.

The before-shot was a Titans club which didn’t think former coach Justin Holbrook had the expertise to mentally develop the squad past the head noise that began to drum every time they shot out to a strong scoreboard lead, only to then fade in the final 20-minutes of matches.

The worst of the fadeouts last year came during round eight against the Dolphins, when they led 26-6 at halftime only to flounder 28-26.

The after-shot hasn’t been pretty.

The Dragons have punched 28 points past the Titans, the Dogs piled on 32 and the Dolphins 30. There wouldn’t be a person in the game thinking that Holbrook has been stiffed.

There’s no point looking back now, particularly when one of the most respected club leaders in the game is backing Hasler’s overhaul.

Titans chair Rebecca Frizelle spoke to Locker Room about the club’s belief in Hasler.

Ben Hunt is now reportedly wanting to stick strong with the Dragons. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

“Obviously we’re not happy, but we’re also not alarmed,” Frizelle said.

“We’re changing our playing structure and that’s going to take time.

“Of course we would’ve loved a better start to the season, and so would Des.

“But we recognised that we needed to improve our systems and processes, and that’s what we’re doing.

“If you look back at the Bulldogs and Manly when Des first went there, it also took time.

“We’ve got to be patient. Whenever you bring in a leadership change, it takes time to adjust.

“We stand by that Des is a very proven and successful coach – the players need to get used to his coaching style and game structure – that takes time.

“It’s just gone round four. Des is calm and he’s brought in a lot of positive improvements, so there is not one regret from the board’s point of view.”

Frizelle is spot on about Hasler’s coaching style focused on working team’s over through the middle of the field before penetrating the edges and it taking time for players to adjust each season.

From the first four rounds, Hasler has a winning record in just seven out of 19 seasons.

Be it at Manly or Canterbury, he won just over 36 per cent of his matches in that first month of footy.

Of course, what can’t be understated is the devastating season-ending knee injury to captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and the Titans overall roster.

Outside of veteran half Kieran Foran, the Titans don’t have another player in their spine who has played more than 65 first-grade games.

Which speaks to a far greater issue around the club’s salary cap.

Where instead of spending the most amount of money in their spine, they have paid Fa’asuamaleaui $12 million for the next 10-years and are currently paying backrower David Fifita $1 million per season to run the ball on average 12 times per game.

Hasler, nicknamed the ‘Mad Scientist’’ is a coach who loves working with numbers.

But even he would admit it doesn’t stack up.

Letting Fifita go is a start.

Originally published as Locker Room: The Ben Hunt decision that says everything about the Titans