Coaching Career
Vital Statistics
- Nickname(s)
- Sorry
- Born
- Thursday, 16th February, 1961
- Current Age
- 63 years and 216 days
- Place Of Birth
- Gosford, New South Wales, Australia
Honours & Awards
Based only on data available in the RLP database. This information should be used as a guide only.
- World Cup
- 1985/1988, 1989/1992
- The Ashes
- 1990
- Test Series
- Australia vs New Zealand 1985, New Zealand vs Australia 1989, Australia vs New Zealand 1991
- State of Origin
- 1987, 1985, 1990
- NSWRL/ARL Premiership (NRL)
- 1987, 1996
- Dally M Lock Of The Year
- 1991
- RLIF Coach Of The Year
- 2008, 2011
- Dally M Coach Of The Year
- 2012
Biography
Penrith junior was one of the fittest, most whole-hearted players in the history of the Manly club. A clever, hard-working halfback, Hasler's career stalled at Penrith through lack of opportunity and he considered retirement to concentrate on a career as a professional runner. A teacher, he was working on the North Shore when he decided to trial with Manly in 1984 (one of the boys in his class happened to be the son of Bob Fulton). His league career quickly took off and, in 1985, he made his Test debut against NZ in Australia's shock Third Test loss. It was his utility value that gained him a place on the 1986 and 1990 Kangaroo tours, playing half, five-eighth, centre and lock. A member of Manly's grand final team that beat Canberra in 1987, Hasler took over from Greg Alexander as the number one halfback in the final two Tests on the Australian tour of NZ in 1989. Hasler played against NZ in 1991 (again as a reserve) and his 12 Test appearances against all nations reflects his immense value at national level. In 1993 he left Manly to play for Hull in England but returned to Australia midway through the following season and was promptly re-signed by the Sea Eagles. He was first used as a hooker after his return and played in two grand final appearances with the club in 1995-96. He was not offered a new contract after Manly’s win over St George in the 1996 grand final and feeling that he still had something to offer, played one final season with Wests. After his retirement, Hasler again linked with the Manly club as a development officer before taking on the role of First Division coach in 2001. In 2004 he succeeded Peter Sharp as first grade coach and took the club back into the finals in consecutive seasons (2005-06). Interestingly Hasler's 1993 biography, The Utility Player, was written by Booker Prize-winning author Thomas Keneally.
- ALAN WHITICKER
Coaching Career Statistics
All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.
To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.
Contributions:
Rugby League Tables, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, Paul Carter, Greg Fiveash, AJ Lucantonio, Alan Katzmann, Steven Russo, Max Turner, Bill Bates
Sources:
David Middleton's Rugby League Yearbook (1987-88 to present), Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook (1981-82 to 1999), Irvin Saxton's Record Keepers' Club, Match Video
Your Say
06/09/2014
Des Hasler one of my all time favourite players great coach and school teacher was my teacher for a couple of years at ST pius X College chats wood sydney N.S.W… i will not forget how we all used to line up after lunch out front of the class room and when we were all a little bit too far forward in the line he would give a tiny push just to position everybody appropriately and it would all just about send us all toppling over, such a laugh one of a kind personality "Hard Knocks" DONT SUGER-COAT this top bloke. Well done on a successful career Des.
27/05/2023
Des was doing 50 tackles a game as a schoolboy halftime when at St Doms Penrith in the mid 70's
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