logo
NRL coach looks set to 'quit his job' after guiding team to horrible record - and favouritism for the wooden spoon

NRL coach looks set to 'quit his job' after guiding team to horrible record - and favouritism for the wooden spoon

Daily Mail​09-07-2025
Des Hasler's time at the Gold Coast Titans appears to be coming to an end, according to reports.
The Titans have slumped to rock bottom of the NRL ladder this season, having won only four games and are a firm favourite to claim the wooden spoon.
Hasler, who joined the club in 2024, has also now acquired the second-worst winning record of any full-time Gold Coast coach, behind Garth Brennan.
But reports from The Courier Mail state that a statement on his future is coming imminently, with the footy boss expected to announce that he will walk away from the club at the end of the season.
Michael Carayannis of the Daily Telegraph explained on SEN Breakfast that Hasler was leaving the club after reaching a 'mutual understanding' with the new ownership.
The writing appears to have been on the wall for Hasler after it was revealed that his contract at the club could be terminated at the end of the 2025 season.
'It'll be called a retirement but it's a mutual understanding,' Carayannis said.
'The Gold Coast Titans can call it whatever they like but Des won't be the coach next season. It's been an absolute failure.'
And due to a contract inserted into his deal with the club, it appears Hasler may have to fight for the final year's pay of his deal.
Carayannis revealed that while Hasler initially agreed on a three-year deal to join the club, his contract contains a top-eight clause.
'That is, if they don't make the top eight this year, the Titans are under no obligation to keep him at the club,' he added.
'There's another element to it and that's when they are mathematically no chance of playing finals footy, they can split immediately.'
Phil Rothfield, meanwhile, explained on his Off The Record Podcast with Andrew Webster that Hasler will make a statement on his future 'very soon'.
'Des has had particularly bitter exits with Canterbury and Manly,' Rothfield said.
'I have a feeling that after such a disastrous season that he will retire from rugby league.
'He has been a premiership-winning coach. He had a fair roster this year. He is now planning retirement.
'He had a pretty fair roster this year so I'm told he's now planning retirement and he's not going to have a s*** fight to get the last year of his money. He's got plenty Des.
'Look I think it's the right thing, he's been a great coach great character, but look it's been really disappointing and they need a fresh start up there.'
Hasler began his coaching journey in 2004, after a decorated playing career, where he won two premierships with Manly in 1987 and 1996.
After hanging up his boots, he stepped into coaching and returned to take charge of the Sea Eagles for 206 matches, winning flags in 2008 and 2011 before moving to Canterbury and then back to Manly in 2019.
The Titans, meanwhile, have struggled this year to get results, with Hasler's side having lost both of their last two fixtures against the Cowboys and the Eels.
Should Hasler opt to retire, the Titans will be able to part company with their coach cleanly and search for a new boss.
One coach who has been linked with the job is Kevin Walters, while The Courier Mail adds Josh Hannay, Willie Peters, Matt King and Dean Young are also at the top of the Frizelle family's list.
Andrew Webster, meanwhile, also added that big changes could come from the Frizelle family.
'The Frizelles have been looking to get control of the club in its entirety and blow the whole thing up and start again,' Webster said on the Off The Record Podcast.
'I wouldn't be surprised if they changed the jumper and made serious changes across the whole organisation. They will throw the bank at a big-name coach to get them there.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

'It means the world': Maro Itoje on British & Irish Lions series win
'It means the world': Maro Itoje on British & Irish Lions series win

The Guardian

time25 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

'It means the world': Maro Itoje on British & Irish Lions series win

The British & Irish Lions claimed a 29-26 victory and series win over Australia after a late try from Hugo Keenan on Saturday. At one stage the Lions were trailing 23-5, stunned by three Wallaby tries inside nine minutes but the Lions responded with five tries of their own to complete a dramatic comeback. It is the first time the Lions have won the first two tests of a series in 28 years, and secures their first series win in 12 years. Maro Itoje, the Lions captain, hailed a 'massive squad effort' after the game. 'I'm delighted, it's what dreams are made of.' The Lions head coach, Andy Farrell, said: 'If you're a child watching that back home, do you want to be a British and Irish Lion? One hundred percent.'

'Shaw is a world-class player'
'Shaw is a world-class player'

BBC News

time25 minutes ago

  • BBC News

'Shaw is a world-class player'

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has labelled left-back Luke Shaw "world-class".After two injury-plagued seasons, Shaw looks fit heading into the 2025-26 campaign. That could be crucial over the next few weeks, as the 30-year-old is expected to fill the left central defensive berth while World Cup winner Lisandro Martinez continues his recovery from major knee United fans found it hugely frustrating that Shaw's only start in over 14 months - between February 2024 and April 2025 - came in the Euro 2024 final, when he completed the full 90 minutes in the defeat by Amorim feels that - and the fact Shaw also featured for the whole game in the Euro 2021 final, when England lost on penalties to Italy and he scored the early opener - says everything about his qualities."Luke Shaw is a world-class player," said Amorim. "That is my feeling. You can feel it in the small things; when he touches the ball, the ability to play one against one."England had two finals. He had issues during the season, but in the final he is always there. That means something."But he needs to be fit. He needs to train at the limit, which is what he is doing at the moment."He is a great player and I am really pleased with him."

Kevin Pietersen is wrong to say batting was harder 20 years ago
Kevin Pietersen is wrong to say batting was harder 20 years ago

Telegraph

timean hour ago

  • Telegraph

Kevin Pietersen is wrong to say batting was harder 20 years ago

Kevin Pietersen did not often bowl, although he first came to English attention when he represented KwaZulu Natal as an off-spinner on England's 1999-2000 tour of South Africa, but he has delivered some bouncers at Joe Root. Root in the course of his 150 at Old Trafford rose to second place in the all-time list of Test run-scorers. But this was not enough to impress Pietersen. Far from it. He declared, like a real old-timer, that batting was twice as hard back in his day. 'Don't shout at me but batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago!' Pietersen posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. 'Probably twice as hard back then.' Pietersen names 22 bowlers of his time and dares the cricket follower of today to name 10 bowlers to compare with them. Of his contemporaries, he nominates four Australians: Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne; four Pakistanis in Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram and Mushtaq Ahmed; three Indians in Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and Harbhajan Singh; three New Zealanders in Shane Bond, Chris Cairns and Daniel Vettori; three South Africans in Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and, bizarrely, Lance Klusener but not Dale Steyn; two Sri Lankans in Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan; and two West Indians in Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh. A single England bowler was nominated by Pietersen in Darren Gough. His colleagues in the Ashes-winning attack of 2005 seem not to have impressed him. Most of the variable factors in Test cricket have changed little in this century: balls, pitches, DRS and so forth. The biggest change has been the impact of T20 – the first professional T20 tournament was started in England in 2003, by when Pietersen was starting out for Nottinghamshire. My interpretation, therefore, would be that Pietersen is wrong to say that the standard of pace bowling has gone down. The finest seamers today are a match for their equivalents of '20/25 years ago'. Don't shout at me but batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago! Probably twice as hard back then! Waqar, Shoaib, Akram, Mushtaq, Kumble, Srinath, Harbhajan, Donald, Pollock, Klusener, Gough, McGrath, Lee, Warne, Gillespie, Bond, Vettori, Cairns, Vaas, Murali,… — Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) July 26, 2025 'Please name me ten modern bowlers that can compare to the names above,' Pietersen goes on to say. Well, in that case, Australia's Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon can all compare; South Africa's Kagiso Rabada is up with his forebears, not bowling so fast but moving the ball more; Mark Wood and Jofra Archer have been timed as England's quickest ever; New Zealand's Will O'Rourke is a serious customer, as is Jayden Seales, even if West Indies are nowhere near what they were; while a case for Jasprit Bumrah being rated the best of all time has been made, although he has been down on pace in the Old Trafford Test. Where Pietersen is right, although he does not spell it out, is that the standard of finger-spin bowling in Test cricket has decreased, while that of wrist-spin has plummeted. And this is where T20 must have had its impact: spinners bowl a higher percentage of the overs in a T20 game than they do in a red-ball or Test match, but it is a different sort of spin: fired in, flat, at the batsman's legs, denying him room. It is a distant relation of flight and dip and turn and defeating the batsman past either inside or outside edge. The presence of finger-spinners in international cricket has faded. If the Test match is in Asia, they will have their say all right, but elsewhere? New Zealand and West Indies might not select one at home. Pakistan, to defeat England last autumn, had to dust down a couple of veterans. It is Lyon and South Africa's Keshav Maharaj who keep this show on the road outside Asia. Of wrist-spinners, Pietersen had to face Warne, Kumble and Mushtaq, and he might have added Yasir Shah who took five wickets per Test for Pakistan. Their successors are not visible, in England or anywhere else: India do not select Kuldeep Yadav, and while Afghanistan have Rashid Khan, they have been able to play only 11 Tests. England have been as culpable as any country in allowing spin to decline, whether in the county championship or the national side, and especially wrist-spin. In almost 150 years of Test cricket only one wrist-spinner has taken a hundred Test wickets for England, Doug Wright, and only one other has managed 50 wickets, Adil Rashid.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store