MARK ‘SPUDD’ CARROLL: Titans’ Des Hasler shows heart on field, tight wallet off it

The Gold Coast Titans don’t deserve Des Hasler.

That’s what I was left thinking after my old Manly teammate celebrated his 500th game with an upset victory over the Warriors.

While many were busy writing his coaching obituary, Des shut out the external noise and got on with the business of preparing his team for an ambush.

But if you believe the rumours and whispers – and they’re usually on the money in rugby league – it won’t be enough to save him.

They say his days at the Titans are numbered.

Ridiculous if true.

While results haven’t been great up on the Glitter Strip, that’s not all on the coach.

Dessie thinks sleep is overrated and would have been up at the crack of dawn and still going after midnight in a bid to turn around this basket case of a club.

But it’s clear he just isn’t getting regular buy-in from the players.

I could not believe what I was seeing when vision emerged of Hasler ripping into his players and ordering them out of the showers following the loss to the Tigers.

It reminded me of our old coach Bob Fulton.

Dessie and I had front row seats to some great Bozo sprays during our time at Manly.

He didn’t care who he upset or offended when he wanted to get his point across.

We weren’t too precious back then and knew we’d cop it between the eyes if our performance wasn’t up to scratch.

Boze wanted to see some genuine hurt and pain after a defeat.

He didn’t want to see any smiles or back slapping in the dressing-room.

Losing was for losers, he would tell us.

And if you’re happy coming second, there’s the door.

Boze actually paired me with Dessie when I first arrived at the Sea Eagles and nearly broke the scales.

I was around 120kg and Bob was not impressed, telling me he’d bought a front-rower not a sumo wrestler.

He wanted me playing at around 108kg and pointed at Des in the corner of the gym.

“Go train with him,” he ordered.

I was doing hours of push-ups, chin-ups, dips, rowing sprints…all the while trying to keep up with the lunatic Hasler.

The weight just fell off me.

Years later, we fought over the purchase of a rowing machine.

Des wanted it for the Manly gym and I wanted it for my gym.

I got it but told Des he could have it if he came up with $100 within an hour.

Somebody picked it up for him and I didn’t see my money for six months.

When Dessie finally paid up, he gave my wife Monique a bag of coins to take home.

When I opened the bag up, it was full of drink tokens from the Manly Leagues Club!

That’s the tight-arse Des you often hear about.

But he was all business when it came to footy.

Bozo loved having Des in his side because the blond-haired halfback had the same mentality.

Hasler took that into his coaching and enjoyed a great deal of success at both the Sea Eagles and Canterbury.

Things haven’t worked out as well at the Titans but I’m disappointed to hear the club might not stick by the coach.

Des was brought in to give the perennial strugglers some hard love and a tougher edge and it was always going to take time.

He is weeding out the players who don’t want to be part of the re-build and deserves at least another year to see his plan through.

What sort of message does it send if Titans bosses turn around and sack him?

They are basically letting under-performing players off the hook.

They knew what they were getting with Des – an uncompromising, relentless, win-at-all-costs, standards-setting coach who knows what success looks like.

Again, just like Bozo, Hasler is not out to make friends or schmooze with sponsors and officials.

For him, it’s all about the two competition points.

He’s the sort of coach I would have loved to have played under.

If the Titans let him go, it will be a massive blunder.

DON’T GET ME STARTED

I’ve got one premiership ring but still feel I should have three.

It burns me to this day that the Sea Eagles didn’t win both the 1995 and 1997 grand finals.

The Knights got us with that late, Joey-inspired, try in ‘97 and the Bulldogs were simply too good on the day despite us dominating the ‘95 competition.

They say you’ve got to lose one to win one and we came up with the goods in ‘96.

But you never forget the ones that got away.

We’d only lost two games in ‘95 while the Dogs came in sixth after mustering a late run to the play-offs.

We were overwhelming favourites in the decider but fluffed our lines, although a forward pass and seven-tackle try didn’t help our cause!

So, excuse me for putting the TV on mute when I saw Canterbury celebrating the 30th anniversary of that win during Sunday’s showdown with Manly at Allianz Stadium.

Don’t get me wrong: It was a wonderful promotion and a nice trip down memory lane for those connected with the blue and whites.

I just couldn’t watch it without being triggered.

There’s a good reason they don’t hold reunions for losing grand final teams.

It’s a day you don’t want to relive.