Desmond John Hasler (born 16 February 1961) is an Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

coach, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as and . He initially played for the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrit ...

, and then spent most of his playing career with the

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

, with whom he won premierships in 1987 and 1996. Hasler spent a season with

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and wer ...

in England, returning to Manly, before finishing his playing career with the

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly r ...

. He also played for NSW City, New South Wales in State of Origin and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

at international level. Hasler coached Manly between 2004 and 2011, winning a further two premierships in 2008 and 2011. He coached the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilit ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

, before returning to Manly as coach from 2019 until he was sensationally sacked at the end of the 2022 season.

Early life

Hasler was born in

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extr ...

, New South Wales. He played his junior footy at Cambridge Park and

Brothers Penrith Penrith Brothers Rugby League Football Club is an Australian rugby league football club based in Penrith, New South Wales which was formed in 1968. It was initially known as St. Dominics RLFC but was rebranded as Penrith Brothers RLFC in 2003. ...

. He attended St Dominic's College, Penrith.

Playing career

Hasler began his first-grade career with the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

, but quickly transferred to the

. Hasler's contact with Manly came by chance. After having played only 12 games for the Penrith club in 1982 and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, Bob Fulton, on the lookout for a halfback due to not being satisfied with the play of

Phil Blake Phil Blake (born 24 November 1963) is a former rugby league footballer and a professional rugby union coach. Originally a , Blake developed into a utility player and played first grade matches in all the backline positions, as well as at and ...

, offered Hasler a trial at Manly and signed him to play for the Sea Eagles in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. Hasler made his debut for Australia in the third test of the 1985 Trans-Tasman Test series against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

Carlaw Park Carlaw Park was a multi-purpose stadium in Parnell, a central suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It neighboured the Auckland Domain's Northern end. It was primarily used for rugby league and had a peak spectator capacity of around 28,000 in the 1 ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, coming into the team at the expense of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

halfback Mark Murray. Unfortunately his debut was soured with the Kiwis defeating Australia 18–0. Hasler's value as a utility player led to his frequent selection on the bench in representative football. He played 13

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

matches for New South Wales (seven from the bench, three at halfback, two at five-eighth and 1 at lock), scoring two tries during these games. His biography, ''The Utility Player'', was written by prominent Australian author and Manly Warringah fan

Thomas Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his non-fiction novel '' Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler's rescue of Jews during the Holocaust, ...

and was published in 1993. Hasler also played in twelve

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

and

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

matches for Australia between 1985 and 1991, with his utility value seeing him start nine of those games from the bench. After the

1993 season File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The White House (Moscow), Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Cze ...

, Hasler spent the off-season playing for

in the English Rugby League Premiership. He later returned to the Manly club for the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

ARL seasons. Hasler had a new role for the season playing mostly at hooker. Although starting the 1996 season as the teams hooker, the signing of

1994 Kangaroo tour The 1994 Kangaroo Tour was the 18th and last Kangaroo Tour played in the conventional format, where the Australia national rugby league team (known as the XXXX Kangaroos due to sponsorship reasons) played a number of matches against British and Fre ...

hooker

Jim Serdaris Jim Serdaris (born 1 October 1971) is an Australian former professional rugby league. He played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Western Suburbs Magpies, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. He also represented New South Wa ...

saw Hasler play most of the season from the bench for the Manly Warringah side. The team had another great year, winning their second straight minor premiership before going on to defeat St. George 20–8 in the Grand Final at the

Sydney Football Stadium The Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium and previously Aussie Stadium, was a football stadium in Moore Park, Sydney, Australia. Built in 1988 next to the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium was Sydney's premier recta ...

, giving Hasler his second and last premiership win as a player. After 257 games for the Manly club over 12 seasons, Manly did not offer Hasler a contract beyond 1996. Feeling he still had something to offer Hasler then signed with the

for the 1997 season. He played 21 games for Western Suburbs alternating between halfback, lock, hooker and the bench, before retiring at the end of the season.

Coaching career

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles

In 2004, Des Hasler was appointed

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in asso ...

of the

. In the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

and 2007 seasons he led the team to the

semi-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

for the first time since the late 1990s. Hasler gained the experience of

Geoff Toovey Geoffrey Toovey (born 17 June 1969), also known by the nickname of "Toovs" or "Tooves", is the former head coach of the Bradford Bulls and former professional rugby league footballer. Toovey played halfback for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, ...

as assistant coach in the 2007 season. The team was a contender in the 2007 National Rugby League premiership, and finished second on the NRL ladder, losing the grand final 34–8 to the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

. He coached Manly to a record-breaking 40–0

2008 NRL Grand Final The 2008 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2008 NRL season. It was played between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the Melbourne Storm on Sunday, 5 October at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The 2008 Grand Final ...

victory over the Melbourne Storm. In 2008, Hasler was named the Rugby League International Federation's Coach of the Year at the

RLIF Awards The RLIF Awards are the Rugby League International Federation's annual major international sporting award for rugby league. Since 2004 the awards ceremony recognises the best referee, coach, developing nations player, international newcomer, captai ...

. After failing to win the

1987 World Club Challenge The 1987 World Club Challenge (also known as the 1987 Foster's World Club Challenge due to sponsorship by brewers, Foster's) was the second game of its kind to be played between Britain's and Australia's domestic rugby league champion clubs. Ch ...

with Manly as a player, he won it with them as coach in 2009. Hasler took Manly to the finals again in 2009 and 2010, but lost a final in each year to be eliminated from the finals. He coached his 200th first-grade game on 13 August 2011 when Manly defeated their traditional rivals

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

26–20 at

Parramatta Stadium Parramatta Stadium was a sports stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, 23 kilometres west of Sydney's central business district. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure ...

. The win was also Hasler's 117th win as a coach. In 2011, Manly finished second on the NRL ladder. Manly defeated

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

42–8 at the

for their first finals win since 2008. Manly went on to win the

2011 NRL Grand Final The 2011 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the New Zealand Warriors on the afternoon of Sunday, 2 October, and i ...

. He was named coach of the year at the RLIF Awards. A week after leading Manly to the 2011 premiership, Hasler signed to coach the

in the 2013 season. He initially agreed to continue to coach Manly for the 2012 season, but on 11 November 2011, Manly's board of directors sacked him, alleging "serious breaches" of his contract with rumours rife of the breaches including enticing staff and players to join him at the Bulldogs from 2013. A number of Manly's coaching and administrative employees had announced they would be joining Hasler at Canterbury.

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

Hasler joined Canterbury on 14 November 2011 as head coach for the

2012 NRL season The 2012 NRL season was the 105th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the first run by the newly formed Australian Rugby League Commission. The main competition, called the 2012 NRL Telstra Premiership due to spon ...

. He had immediate success as he took the club to finish eight places better than the previous season to the top of the ladder and collected the minor premiership. After impressive qualifying final and preliminary final wins, 16–10 over former club

and 32–8 over

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are one of nine existing tea ...

, respectively, the club were beaten in the Grand Final by the

14–4. At the

2012 Dally M Awards The 2012 Dally M Awards were presented on Tuesday 4 September 2012 at the Sydney Town Hall and broadcast on Fox Sports. They are the official annual awards of the 2012 NRL season. Dally M Medal Dally M Awards The Dally M Awards were, as usua ...

Hasler was named the NRL's coach of the year. In the

2014 NRL season The 2014 NRL season was the 107th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 17th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand, for the Auckland Nines, replacing the Rugby Lea ...

, Hasler led Canterbury to the 2014 NRL Grand Final, and lost 30–6 to South Sydney at

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand * ...

. In the 2016 NRL season, Canterbury finished two places lower than the previous season as they finished in seventh place, the same position they managed to reach the Grand Final from two years earlier, but those hopes of a 2014 repeat were crushed in the qualifying elimination final where the Bulldogs after leading 6–4 at half-time but suffered a 28–12 defeat by the

at the Sydney Football Stadium after which, straight away, Canterbury bowed out of the finals series. On 19 September 2017, it was announced by the

that Hasler had been released. On 1 December 2017, it was announced that Hasler was taking Canterbury to court and was seeking $2 million in damages after he was terminated by the club despite signing a two-year contract extension earlier in the season. On 4 May 2018, Hasler and Canterbury-Bankstown reached an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed sum of money. Canterbury issued a statement saying "After a great deal of discussion over the last couple of months, the Bulldogs are pleased to have reached an agreement with Des Hasler. It was important for the club to be able to bring this matter to a close and move forward. Our members and fans deserve that."

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles

On 22 October 2018, Hasler was announced as the new head coach of Manly for the 2019 season. Before the start of the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

, many predicted that Manly would finish outside the top 8 and struggle towards the bottom of the table. Throughout the season, though, Manly surprised many critics by spending nearly the entire regular season in the top 8 which included the club defeating Melbourne at

AAMI Park The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is an outdoor sports stadium on the site of Edwin Flack Field in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the Melbourne central business district. When complet ...

11–10 in

golden point The golden point, a sudden death overtime system, is used to resolve drawn football matches. The term is borrowed from soccer's now-defunct golden goal. Rugby league Australia The golden point is used to determine a winner (where applicable, see ...

extra-time and also defeating other premiership contenders Canberra twice throughout the year. Hasler eventually guided Manly Warringah to a sixth-place finish as the club qualified for the finals. Hasler guided Manly to the second week of the finals series in 2019 as the club were defeated by South Sydney 34–26 in the elimination semi-final at

. In the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-seaso ...

, Hasler failed to guide Manly to the finals as they finished a disappointing 13th on the table. The

2021 NRL season The 2021 NRL season was the 114th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 15th consecutive year. Regular season Ladd ...

started in similar fashion with the club losing their opening three games. In round 4, Manly were defeated 46–6 against Penrith at

Brookvale Oval Brookvale Oval (also known by the commercial sponsorship name 4 Pines Park) is a sporting ground located within Brookvale Park at Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Northern Beaches Council and is primarily used by th ...

; this was Manly's biggest-ever loss at their home ground in their 74-year history. Manly under Hasler then went on to win their next 16 of 21 games to finish in the top 4 and qualify for the finals. Manly went on to reach the preliminary final but were defeated by South Sydney. In the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season is the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest s ...

, Manly endured a poor season finishing 11th on the table. On 13 October 2022, Hasler was terminated as Manly head coach.

Statistics

Honours

As a player

NSWRFL/ARL Minor Premiership (3): 1987, 1995, 1996 NSWRFL/ARL Premiership (2): 1987, 1996

As a coach

NRL Premiership (2): 2008, 2011 *

NRL Minor Premiership (1): 2012

References

External links

Manly Sea Eagles profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasler, Des 1961 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs coaches City New South Wales rugby league team players Hull F.C. players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles captains Manly Warringah Sea Eagles coaches Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Penrith Panthers players Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Gosford, New South Wales Western Suburbs Magpies players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England