The day Des Hasler dragged me out of a pub
'My first instinct was ‘this can’t be good’.''
Written ByADAM LUCIUS
@Lush178
I was two sips into that glorious weekly tradition known as the Friday arvo beer when the phone rang.
Des Hasler’s name filled the screen.
My first instinct was ‘this can’t be good’.
The second instinct was to brush the call, but that would only temporarily shelf the grief coming my way.
After warily pressing green instead of red, I stood in an alley outside Manly’s Steyne Hotel and spent the next 40 minutes being bashed around both ears.
Des was not happy that on a podcast featuring myself, Bulldog Ritchie and Peter Peters, Zorba had questioned Melbourne’s culture.
It was right at the height of the fierce Melbourne-Manly rivalry.
“What are you doing? We’re playing them tomorrow and they’re reading Zorba’s quotes out on the team bus right now,” Hasler fumed.
“You’ve just made our job 100 times harder. How fired up do you think they’re going to be now?”
Not very, as it turned out.
Manly won easily.
The next time I bumped into Dessie, I mentioned the Friday night spray.
“Nah, nah…all good….that was just a gee-up. You didn’t think I was serious, did you?” he said.
“But can you just not ask Zorba about Manly next time.”
Hasler is a control freak, whether it’s dealing with the media, players, coaching staff, CEOs or salary caps.
He’s even been known to word up the Manly ball-boys on best practice policy after penalty kicks.
Those who know him best laugh at suggestions he is a changed man, that the leopard has changed its spots ahead of his second coming at Manly.
Don’t believe it for a minute.
Even before the Bic left the paper on his new contract, Des was back to his cunning, scheming best.
He’s organised coaching staff, talked pre-season training schedules and rung around about players – those he wants to get rid of and those he wants to bring in.
“Hasler has a work ethic which makes one want to have a lie down,” friend and former colleague Peter Peters says.
“Almost without fail he is first at work at 7 am and last to leave at around 7pm.
“But that doesn't mean he has finished work. He regularly calls up to 11 pm and often after midnight with his familiar "I didn't wake you, did I?"
“When you are in his inner sanctum you are on call for 24 hours. He expects his staff to work to the standards he sets himself.”
With Hasler back, it’s time to start hating Manly again.
https://www.sportingnews.com/au/lea...s-nrl-pub-melbourne/ipggld5h82o51sabl33dxt9el
