Modest Hasler's impact has been anything but

Skyhunter · Modest Hasler's impact has been anything but

Greg Prichard | April 16, 2007

DES Hasler refuses to blow his own trumpet. The Manly coach prefers to talk about his team rather than whatever it is that makes him an obviously good coach. So let's blow it for him: his is clearly the best performance of all of the NRL coaches over the first five rounds of the competition.

The 16-14 win over the Bulldogs at Telstra Stadium capped it for Hasler. The Bulldogs had muscled up the previous week against South Sydney and showed the Rabbitohs what the big occasion was all about. They got Mark O'Meley back to complete their fearsome pack for the game against the Sea Eagles. They were entitled to beat them at home. But, despite leading 12-4 early in the second half against a Manly side that was still missing stars Matt Orford, Steve Menzies and Steve Matai, the Bulldogs could not close the deal. It was a tremendous effort by the Sea Eagles to come back and win a very physical match.

The best thing you can say about Manly is that they are playing as a team. It might sound simple, but it isn't easy to get a group of 17 players to play for each other to the utmost degree week in, week out. Ask the coaches of some of the teams closer to the bottom of the competition table than the top.

The prime example of what must make the Sea Eagles so enjoyable for their supporters to follow at the moment is the attitude of Michael Monaghan.

He was naturally disappointed when the club decided to buy another halfback, Orford, over the top of him before the start of last season, but rather than let that disappointment eat away at him he resolved to get over it and make a success of a switch to hooker.

Monaghan mastered that challenge, but when Orford was hurt Hasler switched him back to halfback. No problem. Monaghan has been tremendous in his old spot, but you can bet that when Orford is fit again and goes straight back in at halfback, Monaghan will go straight back to hooker without a complaint.

He considers himself a hooker now. More importantly, he is a team player and a winner. Sooner or later, Manly will lose for the first time this season, but they will have built up a critical bank of competition points to be able to cope with that inevitability in this very even NRL.

There was a lot of speculation in the pre-season about how Manly would handle life without their inspirational captain Ben Kennedy, who retired at the end of last season. So far, they have done remarkably well in his absence, and Hasler and his players must be congratulated for that.

The Bulldogs will be kicking themselves, because they know they blew a great opportunity to win the game. They have been up and down this season and that's why they are in the middle of the competition table rather than near the top, where their playing roster suggests they should be.

Like the Sea Eagles, Saturday night's other winners Melbourne, who downed St George Illawarra 24-10 at Jubilee Stadium - also remain unbeaten, and the impressive thing about the Storm is that they have done it despite not playing at close to their best.

The Dragons, despite their injury problems and the inexperience of the team they fielded, were much more competitive than in their 40-4 loss to Cronulla in the previous round. But the fact remains that they have no idea how to win at the moment.

Source: http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/n...but/2007/04/15/1176575684998.html

Ryan

Things are certainly motoring along. A big win over the Titans, our for/against will improve as well !