Dogzof95
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Brent Reid, the Australian
Des Hasler’s retention was a dog’s breakfast. His sacking threatens to be even more damaging for an organisation that is already grappling with its image as the family club.
Families don’t eat their own but the Bulldogs have been ravenous this season. The club is in the process of cutting a swath through their football department, the biggest scalp being Hasler.
Having made the choice to dispense with the two-time premiership winner, the Bulldogs now face the ignominy of court action after attempting to mitigate the damage of a poor decision.
That decision wasn’t to get rid of Hasler. It was to re-sign him in the first place. After announcing his retention on a two-year deal in April, the club should have stuck solid.
They should have given Hasler the start of next year to play his way out of trouble. Instead, they have sent him packing and begun a search for someone to replace him.
No doubt coaches will bang down the Bulldogs’ door. Those who do should think twice. The board that will appoint the new coach could be gone in February, when elections are held.
The squad they will inherit is no great certainty to improve on the team that missed the finals this year. Kieran Foran will arrive but those who have watched the game closely over the past two years would realise that the New Zealand international is a shadow of his former self.
His body is battered but the more serious concern is whether he is mentally equipped to handle the expectation that will be on his shoulders at Canterbury, particularly with his mentor Hasler no longer there.
The Bulldogs have been linked with Dean Pay and Michael Maguire among others. There are those who believe they should give the job to Pay, a man who intimately knows the Canterbury way.
The story goes that the club has lost its soul under Hasler. Pay would help restore it. The clock is ticking with English giants Warrington waiting to make a move on the Raiders assistant.
Pay would help ease the mutinous air around the Bulldogs but there would be serious question marks over whether he is the best man for the job. If it doesn’t work out, the disgruntled mob will have more motivation to move.
Maguire has won a premiership and knows how to rebuild clubs, having done so at Wigan and South Sydney. He is the best-credentialed coach on the open market, Hasler aside.
He is also in the mix for the Gold Coast job, although they are in no hurry to appoint a new coach as they follow the process that was submitted to the NRL.
The Bulldogs could snatch Maguire from under their noses if they so desire.
North Queensland assistant Todd Payten is also believed to be in the mix but the wildcards could be the coaches already under contract, most notably Paul Green and Craig Bellamy.
Both have a year to run on their current deals and the cashed-up Bulldogs are likely to trump anything on offer at their current clubs, albeit within the strict confines of the soon-to-be-introduced football department cap.
The question is why would either of them be interested in a job that looks like a poison chalice. Green has a squad that will continue to challenge for premierships for years to come.
So too Bellamy, who has pieced together a side that seems capable of handling the staggered departures of Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Cameron Smith.
Then there is Trent Barrett, the Manly coach who also has a year to run on his deal but is locked in talks over an extension with the Sea Eagles.
Barrett deserves a pay rise and Manly will give him one, although not as much as many would have you believe given they are a private club who exist to a large extent on the smell of an oily rag,
Hasler’s sacking has inevitably cued the conspiracy theories that the pair could swap places but those who are suggesting that have forgotten the way things ended at Manly. Hasler walked out on the club amid threats of court action.
It didn’t end well and bridges would have to be mended if he was to ever find his way back to the club given the ownership remains the same. The Penn family were among those most upset with the nature of Hasler’s departure six years ago. They have may have forgiven but they are unlikely to have forgotten.
Hasler left the Sea Eagles all those years ago in part because of the uncertainty surrounding the stability at Manly off the field. The ownership has stabilised since then and remarkably it is Canterbury who are struggling to get things right on and off the field.
Winning starts in the front office and the Bulldogs are a rabble. They have no captain after the exit of James Graham. Their spiritual leader Josh Reynolds is done as well, departing due to salary cap constraints and a big offer from Wests Tigers.
The club’s new chief executive officer, Andrew Hill, doesn’t start until December, leaving chair Ray Dib to preside over his own business and that of the Bulldogs. The club has no coach and no direction.
The family club is on its knees.
Des Hasler’s retention was a dog’s breakfast. His sacking threatens to be even more damaging for an organisation that is already grappling with its image as the family club.
Families don’t eat their own but the Bulldogs have been ravenous this season. The club is in the process of cutting a swath through their football department, the biggest scalp being Hasler.
Having made the choice to dispense with the two-time premiership winner, the Bulldogs now face the ignominy of court action after attempting to mitigate the damage of a poor decision.
That decision wasn’t to get rid of Hasler. It was to re-sign him in the first place. After announcing his retention on a two-year deal in April, the club should have stuck solid.
They should have given Hasler the start of next year to play his way out of trouble. Instead, they have sent him packing and begun a search for someone to replace him.
No doubt coaches will bang down the Bulldogs’ door. Those who do should think twice. The board that will appoint the new coach could be gone in February, when elections are held.
The squad they will inherit is no great certainty to improve on the team that missed the finals this year. Kieran Foran will arrive but those who have watched the game closely over the past two years would realise that the New Zealand international is a shadow of his former self.
His body is battered but the more serious concern is whether he is mentally equipped to handle the expectation that will be on his shoulders at Canterbury, particularly with his mentor Hasler no longer there.
The Bulldogs have been linked with Dean Pay and Michael Maguire among others. There are those who believe they should give the job to Pay, a man who intimately knows the Canterbury way.
The story goes that the club has lost its soul under Hasler. Pay would help restore it. The clock is ticking with English giants Warrington waiting to make a move on the Raiders assistant.
Pay would help ease the mutinous air around the Bulldogs but there would be serious question marks over whether he is the best man for the job. If it doesn’t work out, the disgruntled mob will have more motivation to move.
Maguire has won a premiership and knows how to rebuild clubs, having done so at Wigan and South Sydney. He is the best-credentialed coach on the open market, Hasler aside.
He is also in the mix for the Gold Coast job, although they are in no hurry to appoint a new coach as they follow the process that was submitted to the NRL.
The Bulldogs could snatch Maguire from under their noses if they so desire.
North Queensland assistant Todd Payten is also believed to be in the mix but the wildcards could be the coaches already under contract, most notably Paul Green and Craig Bellamy.
Both have a year to run on their current deals and the cashed-up Bulldogs are likely to trump anything on offer at their current clubs, albeit within the strict confines of the soon-to-be-introduced football department cap.
The question is why would either of them be interested in a job that looks like a poison chalice. Green has a squad that will continue to challenge for premierships for years to come.
So too Bellamy, who has pieced together a side that seems capable of handling the staggered departures of Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Cameron Smith.
Then there is Trent Barrett, the Manly coach who also has a year to run on his deal but is locked in talks over an extension with the Sea Eagles.
Barrett deserves a pay rise and Manly will give him one, although not as much as many would have you believe given they are a private club who exist to a large extent on the smell of an oily rag,
Hasler’s sacking has inevitably cued the conspiracy theories that the pair could swap places but those who are suggesting that have forgotten the way things ended at Manly. Hasler walked out on the club amid threats of court action.
It didn’t end well and bridges would have to be mended if he was to ever find his way back to the club given the ownership remains the same. The Penn family were among those most upset with the nature of Hasler’s departure six years ago. They have may have forgiven but they are unlikely to have forgotten.
Hasler left the Sea Eagles all those years ago in part because of the uncertainty surrounding the stability at Manly off the field. The ownership has stabilised since then and remarkably it is Canterbury who are struggling to get things right on and off the field.
Winning starts in the front office and the Bulldogs are a rabble. They have no captain after the exit of James Graham. Their spiritual leader Josh Reynolds is done as well, departing due to salary cap constraints and a big offer from Wests Tigers.
The club’s new chief executive officer, Andrew Hill, doesn’t start until December, leaving chair Ray Dib to preside over his own business and that of the Bulldogs. The club has no coach and no direction.
The family club is on its knees.
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haha (he can bring Munster over with him too if he wants 
