Why Hasler was a dead man walking
ANALYSIS: Twelve months ago the Canterbury board was presented with two proposals. The first was a contract extension for the coach. The second was his termination and a blueprint to life after Hasler.
The board had even gone to the extent of arranging interviews with two prospective coaches – Todd Payten and Dean Pay. The advice given was sack him or back him. It did neither.
At the end of 2016, and with one more year to run on his contract, Hasler was given the opportunity to prove himself. In hindsight, it was a ticket to a slow and painful death.
The board was never convinced he was the man. It didn’t like the direction the club was heading under a man whose own paranoia began to sweep across the organisation.
Even midway through the season, when the directors provided him with a two-year contract extension, they did so reluctantly.
The decision to punt Hasler had all but been made. But with no warning, the board had a sudden change of heart and nutted out a new two-year deal and within 24 hours it was announced that he had signed a contract extension.
Canterbury were so desperate to avoid panicking and reacting to public outcry, they allowed the saga to drag out. Extending Hasler’s contract was meant to provide them with some breathing space, but it only placed further scrutiny on a club that has become accustomed to success.
The writing was on the wall when Hasler’s support from the board had diminished so much that it took some of the power and control he had of the club away from him.
It removed members of his coaching staff and stripped funding for the football department. The board wanted its club back.
The Bulldogs won three on the trot to finish the season, but it was to no avail. There was no longer a decision to be made. Hasler was a dead man walking.
The chief executive at the time, Raelene Castle, was Hasler’s biggest supporter. It put her at loggerheads with chairman Ray Dib – one of the reasons the relationship between the two most influential figures at the club deteriorated over the course of the year.
Then there was the growing tension and unrest among the playing group.
The uncertainty surrounding the future of key players tested the relationship with the coach. The decision to allow favourite son Josh Reynolds to leave to the Wests Tigers had huge ramifications. Skipper James Graham was ropeable. His close friend David Klemmer was furious.
The cracks were there for all to see. They were losing games and fans wanted blood.
That brings us to September 19, 2017 – the end of the Hasler regime that yielded two grand finals and five finals series across six seasons. He left his worst for last, bowing out with his once impeccable reputation battered.
Dib was on the phone to all key club stakeholders on Tuesday afternoon, informing sponsors and officials of the club’s decision to part ways with Hasler. He had spent the past week in the club’s Belmore offices conducting interviews with players and staff, undertaking a review that was always going to lead to Hasler’s demise at the family club.
Interestingly, Hasler was never interviewed. His first contact with Dib came on Tuesday, when he was hastily called in for a meeting in which he was told his services would no longer be required.
That wasn’t a surprise. The bombshell dropped next certainly was, though. The Bulldogs had no intention of paying him out. That’s destined for a legal stoush given Hasler’s expectations of a seven-figure sum.
So where to now for Canterbury? Does Kieran Foran still come to the club without the man who was once a father figure to him at Manly? And what about Hasler’s replacement? The whispers about Pay won’t go away.
Michael Maguire will be in the running. Dib was also recently spotted lunching with Wayne Beavis – the agent who represents a number of coaches in the NRL. This meeting was believed to be in relation to Trent Barrett.
At the start of the season, Dib warned everyone at the club, from the administration through the coaching staff and players that their jobs were all on the line this year.
They certainly were. Now it’s the board’s turn to answer the music when the elections roll around in February.