One-year Dymock deal tipped, but the Dogs are still barking for Hasler!!!
CANTERBURY are adamant that signing Jim Dymock to just a one-year contract will not be at the grave risk of next season becoming a write-off under the control of someone who could be regarded as a ''lame-duck'' coach.
The Bulldogs accept there will be some risk involved but believe it will be outweighed by the natural desire of Dymock and the players to be competitive and get something out of the season regardless of whether it is his only one in charge.
Dymock, who was the Canterbury caretaker coach for the tail end of the season just completed after Kevin Moore was sacked, is set to be announced as next year's coach later this week, but the club still hopes to sign Des Hasler as coach for 2013 and beyond.
If they don't get Hasler, who said after winning the grand final on Sunday he would honour his agreement with Manly for next year, they may still only sign Dymock for one year and weigh up the long-term future further down the track.
Manly are still negotiating with Hasler to extend his deal for two years until the end of 2014. There have been further talks between Hasler and Manly chairman Scott Penn this week, and they are scheduled to meet again tomorrow.
The Sea Eagles are doing their best to reach a figure that will compete with the $750,000 a year over three years the Bulldogs are understood to have offered Hasler, whose deal with Manly is worth about $450,000.
Ideally, the Bulldogs want Hasler for next year but are prepared to wait until 2013 to get him. But whether they get Hasler for 2013 or not, the Herald has learned Bulldogs powerbrokers believe there will not be a substantial risk of next season coming undone if Dymock is only appointed for one year.
That is because they see Dymock, who shared in the 1995 premiership with the Bulldogs and won the Clive Churchill Medal as best player in the grand final, as someone who will still view the opportunity as critically important to his career. They saw him putting everything he had into the last eight weeks of the the season even though there was never any guarantee he would get the job for next year, and don't regard him as the type of person who, because he didn't have the job long-term, would lose interest and drop his bundle at some stage next year.
Officials also saw the club's players support Dymock through their performances during his time as caretaker coach, and the club believes they will again next year, regardless of if it were his only year.
The fact the game has long been professional is another reason to believe players will rise above such a situation, because of their need to play well to increase their earning capacity. If the club did snare Hasler for 2013, the desire to impress him would be regarded as extra motivation.
For Manly, as a privately owned club that does not have the huge financial support from its leagues club that the Bulldogs enjoy, it is not a simple matter to come up with the extra money to offer Hasler what the market says he is worth after two premierships in four years.
Ultimately, it would have to come from the two groups that, between them, own almost 80 per cent of the Sea Eagles - the Penn family company and Quantum. What the owners are naturally trying to establish is how much the grand final win might be worth to the club in terms of sponsorship and merchandising.
Asked yesterday how talks Hasler were going, chairman Penn replied: ''We're still in dialogue. We're doing everything we can to keep Des.''
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...-still-barking-for-hasler-20111005-1l9p4.html
