Fraternal feelings of familiarity
Oh, Titans
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RIP Desmond John Hasler(‘s career)
He’s gone, for reals:
The Gold Coast Titans and head coach Des Hasler have confirmed 2025 will be his last at the club…
Titans chairman Dennis Watt said Hasler is a true icon of the game and thanked him for his time at the club.
"His deep knowledge, passion and unwavering commitment to excellence have been evident every day he has worked with our club," Watt said.
"While this season hasn't gone as planned, Des has conducted himself with the dignity and class that has defined his entire career."
OK, yes, sure. “Hasn’t gone as planned” is a strange way to phrase “unable to single-handedly repair a catastrophe of a franchise.”
Considering how bad the Titans have been rated in recent years, it takes real talent to fight off regression to the mean and stay in the trough but Hasler, if nothing else, embraced the long tradition of football on the Gold Coast.
Which makes the tone of the scuttlebutt leading up to the world’s most expected firing very strange, even if it was predictably weak:
An internal Gold Coast investigation has found the Titans have lost touch with their fans under a regime that will trigger the demise of besieged coach Des Hasler.
CODE Sports can reveal Titans hierarchy believe they are suffering an image crisis with their key stakeholders — the Gold Coast people — ahead of Saturday’s clash against the Warriors at Cbus Super Stadium.
The private probe has uncovered a public-relations problem and disconnect with the local community as Hasler fights to save his job on the Gold Coast.
Yes, it’s Des’ fault the club hasn’t had a winning season in 15 years and counting. Hasler’s mediocre stint is the only conceivable reason that the Titans might have lost touch with the people of the Gold Coast and ended up with a home game full of Warriors fans. Again. Righto.
The Titans mysteriously ended their Des-firing by promising to “provide an update on the coaching structure for 2026 in due course” and so a few hours later, Josh Hannay must have faxed in his signed contract:
The Gold Coast Titans will have a new head coach in 2026 with Josh Hannay to take the club in a new direction as he headlines a re-shaped football department.
Hiring coaches is a total crapshoot, so I have no views on whether Hannay can do it or not - the proof will be due circa 2027 or 2028 - but the Titans aren’t exactly known for their judgement or firm grasp of reality. The roster choices made in the last couple of years - to give anyone even vaguely talented a million years and signing a dozen fullbacks - already limits Hannay’s options.
Oh, wait, never mind, he’s doomed:
"I want to develop an identity for the club that resonates with the people of the Gold Coast and all the fans that support the Titans."
Should’ve hired Billy Slater to Queensland the team to a premiership or to death.
Scott Sattler has signed on to be the Titans’ first general manager of football and Anthony Laffranchi has been appointed as head of recruitment. There’s probably something interesting in the head of football/general manager role and how its deployed across different clubs and codes (see also: Andrew Luck at Stanford, Bill Belichick at the Patriots, Ben Ikin’s sidelining at the Broncos, Micheal Luck below) but this is making for a crew of an interestingly Gold Coast-experienced but lacking-in-overall-experience people.
Elsewhere, this is not the end of the road for the Walker Brothers but it did seem like they were very keen for the Titans job for some reason. Allow me to quote at length from an AAP story dropped last week with my own emphasis added:
Ipswich Jets chairman Steve Johnson has some advice for their boards, owners and CEOs.
"It is not brave and courageous to appoint Ben and Shane as NRL coaches. It is stupidity not to," Johnson told AAP.
"They are proven winners and they have a style of play like the great coaches. The great coaches don't react to what other teams do. They might make amendments to how they do things, but they stay true to their style.
"In modern rugby league, how many coaches have a style? A lot of them have looked in the mirror and copied each other.
"Peter V'landys is after excitement. Well, Ben and Shane will deliver that and take it to another level. If you want this game to be a showpiece of brilliance, then bring on Ben and Shane." …
The duo had been coaching the lower grades at Burleigh when Johnson first spoke to them about joining the Jets.
"They were perceived to be so radical that they were a danger to appoint. Some well-known rugby league people warned me against it, but I had one conversation with them and they impressed me with their 'Rain Man' knowledge of rugby league," Johnson recalled.
"They knew it inside out and laid out their plan of how they would revolutionise the game with how they attacked. …
"I won't go into too many of their secrets, but their attack was based on their defence and not the other way around. You can't play Jets style without great defence."
…
The Walkers became known for adopting the "contract football" [my note: this is not true] made famous by the great Toowoomba coach Duncan Thompson. It was essentially, as once explained by Shane, "to give the ball to someone in a better position"…
To understand what that attacking style looks like in the NRL, look no further than Sydney Roosters half Sam Walker [oh for fuck’s sake], the son of Ben, who has 14 try assists in his six games this year. In a Walker brothers-coached side, all the players from 1-17 can play that way within their own styles.
Sam grew up at his father and uncle's feet at the Jets absorbing "contract football" by osmosis.
"Everyone thinks that the Jets under Ben and Shane played unstructured football, and that is also rubbish," Johnson added.
"Like Bill Belichick at the New England Patriots, the Jets had a plan for anything that might happen on a rugby league field, and we practised it
It goes on. I am very disappointed that the Titans were not sold on a comparison to Bill Belichick (second reference in one newsletter!), who is now coaching a mid-major college program, who had very little success without the greatest quarterback in that sport’s history and whose successors have been even more pathetic, and went with the consensus pick for the next coach up. They went with a guy the Warriors didn’t turn down for Nathan Brown in 2020.
Strange. I really thought a reference to 1988’s Rain Man would get them over the line. If not that, then the complete misrepresentation of what the Walker Brothers brought to Ipswich for the majority of their tenure - one finals appearance in four years after that 2015 premiership and that game they took the two to cut the margin to four scores against Burleigh - surely should have swayed Parkwood. And then if not that, then the commitment to complete delusion should have at least prickled some fraternal feelings of familiarity?
Interestingly, while I was double checking the Titans’ record, I came across this on the Titans’ Wikipedia page:
The only evidence I can find for this existing are some old articles on the Titans website from 2016-17, which means that not only is no one updating the Titans Wikipedia page routinely, the Titans had this truly baffling business proposition at the exact moment the internet began to eat Foxtel, and any notion of local community, alive.
I’m starting to think that there might be some other issues here ???
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Hotseat
Lol:
Besieged Cowboys coach Todd Payten will not be sacked in a major show of faith from North Queensland powerbrokers ahead of Sunday’s clash against Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval.
It can be revealed that Payten will survive a post-season review with North Queensland bosses backing the Cowboys coach to lead a Townsville turnaround next season.
This is a very serious organisation, leaking the outcomes of a review that hasn’t been held yet to Stinky Pete “Biological Firestorm” Badel. It’s almost as serious as their men’s football team.
My contention that the Cowboys might be waiting to hire a new CEO, could still hold up, with no one willing to make a call on their own and so rallying behind the flag until told otherwise. Then again, I also have no idea about the particular power dynamic within the Cowboys front office and what political position Micheal Luck finds himself, so who knows. I am not buying that this is done but then again, the Cowboys would wreck next season for no reason other than indecisiveness.
Payten should go. He’s been too slow to correct bad decisions and can’t get a consistent performance out of the team. They have enough firepower to at least have had a Dolphins-style season and missed even hit that low benchmark. Only two teams have conceded more than 600 points this season: the Cowboys (646) and the Titans (655). Layering on top of that, recruitment and retention has been decidedly average for years now. The Cowboys have the fundamentals but it’s time to get serious.
Around the grounds
Raiders 20 defeated Panthers 16. You know that Fox is going to ruin the Miracle in Mudgee with overexposure. Used to be you had to wait for an end of year VHS to relive things like that, if it was recorded at all. They are now going to smash that repeatedly for years until we’re all sick of hearing about it. Moses Leota, Dylan Edwards and Jamal Fogarty all choked so badly in the final minutes that Cleary was given only one chance to underwhelm in regular time. Good to see some players in motion at the scrum. Even though I hate calling them in Madden, there should be more jet sweeps in rugby league.
Storm 20 defeated Bulldogs 14. The Storm can't tackle in open space but are good enough on their line to repel the Lachie Galvin circus. Would love to see a plus-minus for Galvin versus Sexton. It is the absolute height of stupidity to piss away pole position in the most wide open comp in living memory to “build” for the next five to ten years. Hardman Crichton goes missing again. Referees did their best to get the Dogs home but alas, they are too incompetent even for that. Everyone should be fired. Storm: thumbs up, great work as always. Kamikamica is an absolute liability out there. Still sick of Alec McDonald. Of course, Jahrome Hughes is coming back for round 27 in Brisbane.
Bears 30 defeated Devils 22 (M). I’ve remarked about how difficult to pin down Norths’ exact characteristic that lets them win. They’re good at everything. Sometimes, they’re not but most of the time, they are. This was not a bad game on the part of the national champs, even if their red zone defence let them down, but they did work their way to the lead with 15 to go after falling behind early. The Bears had just too much strength in the forwards, a bit too much pace in Hamilton and the Devils were a bit too flat footed. Always weird to go to a game and be like, “Hey! I recognise that guy… it’s um… Sean O’Sullivan?”
Titans 22 defeated Dragons 4 (W).
Sea Eagles 58 defeated Dolphins 30. That got ugly. Strap in, Dolphins fans. All that stuff I wrote about the Titans is your future.
Warriors 32 defeated Titans 18 (M).
Eels 30 defeated Roosters 10 (M). What’s been missing from the heavyweight bouts of the last few weeks has been the distribution of spectacle. They’ve all had the vibe of two mid-table teams playing it on the conservative side, which just makes any handling errors more obvious and egregious, all of which is blinded by one shining moment at the end of the game (to be fair, this may be a combination of boredom with the Panthers/Bulldogs’ style and not putting my complete attention into these games). In this game, not only did the Eels make the Roosters’ prospects that much more marginal, both sides scored some scintillating tries. In any other week, Moses’ banana grubber for himself would be a try of the year nominee and it didn’t even make this week’s shortlist. The Roosters’ completion rate killed them and if you can get them in that zone, it’s easy to beat them. Good stuff.
Broncos 46 defeated Knights 16 (W). Spent most of the game trying to judge how well Jesse Southwell will fit into the Broncos’ attack next year. Can’t wait to see how the Broncos blow the preliminary final.
Broncos 46 crushed Knights 12 (M). Yawn. Did Reece Walsh invent the disrespectful try assist? Thankfully, Brandon Smith is getting done for drugs/gambling stuff so we don’t get a week of hand wringing about Walsh.
Dolphins 36 defeated Blackhawks 10. Watched the Dolphins dominate the first half against what has been a much better team all year and wondered where this has been? I was looking forward to writing off Redcliffe and may have to settle for a bizarre week 1 elimination.
Cowboys 34 defeated Tigers 28 (M). Tigers couldn’t even get it done at Leichhardt. Pathetic. To quote AJ Mithen, “As for North Queensland, they again showed they can go well if defence is optional in a game.”
Cowboys 30 defeated Tigers 8 (W). Taking care of business and now, the Cowboys are, get this, 6 and 2.
Intermission
Sunshine State-wide
Looking at the final round of QCup this weekend, there’s a good chance that the Tigers get 10.5 wins out of 20 games played, finish ninth in a 15 team league and miss finals. Tough scene. To qualify, the Tigers need to knock off fourth placed Wynnum while hoping one of Phins, Hunters or Jets blow a game against a team whose season is already over.
The minor premiership is wide open if the Bears lose to the Falcons. Both the Devils and Blackhawks are facing easy beat teams, if they can avoid choking, although Norths’ points difference is much healthier. Winning the minor premiership doesn’t mean a whole lot for major premierships aspirations: the minor premiers have gone on to win the grand final 11 times since 1996 but only four times since 2010.
In the women’s, Burleigh could play spoiler if one of the lesser teams gets squirrely but otherwise, it’s going to be a Souths Logan vs Easts grand final. There’s two more weeks of regular season and two weeks of semis before we reach that inevitable conclusion.
Upcoming Slate
There are no excuses (I’m sure I’ll make one) for not tuning into the Bears versus the Falcons, a game which will decide the minor premiership, the top four berths and have a series of repercussions for finals seeding. It’s free on every conceivable streaming platform with comms.
The NRL fell ass backwards into having a hot draw in the Thursday and Friday night slots for the third week in a row (the Panthers resting CRISIS aside, I’m sure the comms will find a way to gag on how well the reggies play). Well done, Phillip Street. We’re also treated to a double Queensland derby in the other free-to-air slots. Two of those teams are still playing for finals and the other two would love to play spoiler, so throw the form book out the window.
Sharks-Knights makes for the only Dub game that’s likely to be competitive, as that competition gets increasingly chalky. Whether the Cowboys can take it to the Roosters should be clear in the first 10 minutes or so. Raiders and Tigers are also playing a spoon bowl, if that’s your thing.
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Programming notes
You are due a Stats Drop this week but you are very unlikely to get it. We’ve hit the running on fumes point of the season and while it’s easy enough to turn around this newsletter, fresh and original content is not my forte in late August.
What is my forte at this time of year is counting down how many more posts I have left to do before I get a break:
You’ll get three or four more of these
Pony Picayune August (next week) and season review (at some point)
Bovine Bulletin season review (probably sooner than the Broncos)
2 x Stats Drop, a make-up for August and one for September
QCup grand final/season recap
Let’s call it 10 more posts for 2025 before a long break and preparation for 2026 begins (i.e. replying to emails, reviewing PPSR documents and doing a lot of stats work I said I would do this year but haven’t got around to).
Read this
Campo: Ben Murdoch-Masila, last man standing from NRL game of the century, ready for one final ride
The Sportress: Six, again: Proving things
Sofia Bamonte: Recalled Dibb determined to keep starting spot as Cowboys push for finals
Rugby League Eye Test: Why Sam Walker is so important to the Roosters chances
Rugby League Writers: How To Watch Rugby League
Beyond the Goalpost: Copping a miracle to the face
Notes
“The Commonwealth has agreed to contribute just under half the cost of building the 2032 Olympic Games venues, under a deal struck with the Queensland government." Funding in place. Also of note is that the IOC hasn’t formalised the program of sports yet, and won’t until next year, which makes designing and building some venues somewhat tricky.
The Devils announced a redevelopment of Bishop Park at the game on the weekend. Details weren’t exactly clear but sounded like the western hill is getting toilets and a new canteen.
French Overseas Minister in New Caledonia to save Bougival deal. France are going to be out of the Pacific Championships before I can get them in.
Nickelware
Some good content
I lost it at “it provides a much needed outsider's perspective.”
This is not such a problem these days but stupid people arguing about stuff they hadn't bothered to understand (or read) used to drive me nuts.
If you’re one of a half dozen people that have made it this far, thank you.