THERE will be no outlandish statements emulating from the respective coaches in the post-match press conference at Brookvale Oval on Saturday night when former teammates Des Hasler and Ivan Cleary front the media.

Hasler and Cleary are products of former Manly coach Bob Fulton and, while fiercely protective of their players, have been trained to play their cards close to their chest when it comes to the media.

There is a remarkable contrast to the men in terms of their respective playing careers. Hasler was a Penrith junior who came to Manly on a freakish coincidence and stayed for a massive 255 games, while Cleary was a local junior who played only 15 games for the club before becoming a journeyman with seasons at North Sydney, Eastern Suburbs and the New Zealand Warriors.

Both were versatile team players who let their on-field performances speak for them.

The two quietly-spoken men are now highly-regarded NRL coaches. Hasler has a premiership under his belt as a coach and two as a player, while Cleary has been in a grand final for the Warriors in 2002 and would be a national hero if he can snag one for the Auckland-based club as a coach this season.

Cleary will return to his old home ground with some confidence today, the Warriors having won five of their past seven games at the ground.

Cleary played as a fill-in fullback for an injured Matthew Ridge alongside Des Hasler, Cliffy Lyons and Geoff Toovey in 1993. He switched to North Sydney in 1994 and 1995 and then the Roosters from 1996 to 1999. In 1998, he broke Mick Cronin’s point-scoring record of 284 points in a season, and backed it up with the Warriors in 2002 when he set a club record of 242 points for the season.

The on-field battle will be absorbing. It is a must-win for Manly on a short turnaround from Monday night. Manly have long given up complaining about the scheduling of games but the Sea Eagles have copped a massive serve with Monday night games this season, two at home and four away.

The side showed against Melbourne Storm a few weeks ago they had the steel to overcome the short break. To achieve the same result tonight against the in-form Warriors would be a tremendous pre-finals lift.

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