29 Facts About Des Hasler

Desmond John Hasler was born on 16 February 1961 and is an Australian professional rugby league coach and former player who is the current head coach of the Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League.

Des Hasler played for NSW City, New South Wales in State of Origin and Australia at international level.

Des Hasler coached Manly between 2004 and 2011, winning a further two premierships in 2008 and 2011.

Des Hasler coached the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League, before returning to Manly as coach from 2019 until he was sensationally sacked at the end of the 2022 season.

Des Hasler played his junior footy at Cambridge Park and Brothers Penrith.

Des Hasler began his first-grade career with the Penrith Panthers in 1982, but quickly transferred to the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.

Des Hasler made his debut for Australia in the third test of the 1985 Trans-Tasman Test series against New Zealand at Carlaw Park in Auckland, coming into the team at the expense of Queensland halfback Mark Murray.

Des Hasler played 13 State of Origin matches for New South Wales, scoring two tries during these games.

Des Hasler played in twelve test and World Cup matches for Australia between 1985 and 1991, with his utility value seeing him start nine of those games from the bench.

Des Hasler was twice selected to go on a Kangaroo Tour of Great Britain and France, in 1986 and 1990 respectively.

Des Hasler later returned to the Manly club for the 1995 and 1996 ARL seasons.

Des Hasler had a new role for the season playing mostly at hooker.

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

In 2004, Des Hasler was appointed head coach of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.

Des Hasler gained the experience of Geoff Toovey as assistant coach in the 2007 season.

In 2008, Des Hasler was named the Rugby League International Federation's Coach of the Year at the RLIF Awards.

Des Hasler took Manly to the finals again in 2009 and 2010, but lost a final in each year to be eliminated from the finals.

Des Hasler was named coach of the year at the RLIF Awards.

Des Hasler 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.

Des Hasler joined Canterbury on 14 November 2011 as head coach for the 2012 NRL season.

Des Hasler 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.

At the 2012 Dally M Awards Des Hasler was named the NRL's coach of the year.

On 19 September 2017, it was announced by the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs that Des 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 22 October 2018, Des Hasler was announced as the new head coach of Manly for the 2019 season.

Des Hasler eventually guided Manly Warringah to a sixth-place finish as the club qualified for the finals.

Manly under Des Hasler then went on to win their next 16 of 21 games to finish in the top 4 and qualify for the finals.

On 13 October 2022, Des Hasler was terminated as Manly head coach.

On 22 June 2023, Des Hasler was announced as the new head coach of the Gold Coast Titans, commencing in 2024.