Titans move to sack retiring Hasler early to avoid ‘disaster’ year

The Gold Coast Titans are looking into sacking Des Hasler as soon as mid-July to avoid another “disaster year,” even as the veteran NRL helmsman prepares to hang up his coaching hat at the end of the season.

The issue, The Sporting Base understands, is the Titans’ playing group is fed up with Hasler’s methods, including tough training sessions and unclear messaging around why certain players are selected each week.

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In one case, a Gold Coast rookie first found out he was going to be making his NRL debut when the week’s team lists were shared on NRL.com at their regular 4pm Tuesday release time. He hadn’t heard anything from Hasler or any of the coaching staff that Des has installed at the Titans.

With the year quickly dwindling away — or even slowly turning into a full-blown, wooden-spoon bound “disaster” as journalist Buzz Rothfield declared on NRL 360 earlier this week — Titans brass is looking into dropping Hasler early.

There’s a clause set up for it, too: Gold Coast can bin Hasler when he’s mathematically unable to make finals.

For the Titans, that moment is coming up quick; a loss to Brisbane on Sunday confirms it.

With the team stuck in dead last with four wins (one less than closest spoon contender the Eels), it’s panic stations up north on the glitter strip and the expectation is Hasler’s sacking has become a question of ‘when.’

Should Hasler be sacked, The Sporting Base is hearing Josh Hannay is the leading favourite right now. He’s interested in the job, though the possibility that the North Queensland Cowboys could drop under-fire boss Todd Payten this season would be something he’s wanting to hear about before he makes any formal decisions on his future.

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In other changes at the top, the Frizelle family has assumed full ownership of the franchise for the first time in seven years after buying out the Kelly family, who have been involved with since 2017.