Fan outrage over Des Hasler's contentious Tom Trbojevic call
In Des we trust – until he touches our Tommy.
Some Manly fans have, incredibly, torn strips off Des Hasler for taking the safety-first option of resting Tom Trbojevic for Friday night's clash with Canberra.
They say it shows a lack of killer instinct, that the Sea Eagles coach would be happy to lose to the Raiders and possibly surrender a top four berth.
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An NRL coach NOT wanting to make the top four – that's a new one
Des Hasler NOT wanting to win a game of football – yep, okay, have another drink.
This is a bloke who goes into work the day after a grand final – win or loss – to start preparing for the next season.
Hasler said he's not a facial surgeon, and that part is not in dispute here.
But he did consult a range of people who are experts in this field before arriving at his decision on Trbojevic.
In fact, an hour before he officially ruled Tommy out, Des was on the phone with a doctor getting one last opinion.
At that stage Turbo was still a hope of playing – and Des was a chance of caving in.
The professional advice was to err on the side of caution because another knock to the same area could be season over.
Can you imagine the outcry if Des played Trbojevic and he suffered season-ending damage to the cheekbone?
Then Manly fans would truly have had something to ark up about.
David Fifita failing to justify lofty price tag
Is David Fifita worth the $1 million-plus-a-season that he’s getting paid by the Titans?
His stats coming out of Thursday night's vital game against the Storm indicate the club is not getting value on investment for a bloke commanding over $1m a year.
There were seven runs for a total gain of 55m in a game his side needed to win.
This against a Melbourne side missing a batch of key players, including some of the best forwards in the game.
It's not the first time Fifita's gone missing.
Eighth Immortal Andrew Johns summed it up this way: "David's got to realise there are two parts of the game. You don't just save yourself up for one big run.
"Some of his misses in defence…there was no attitude to defence.
"A lot of their (Titans) players just save their energy for attack. They're just waiting to get the ball back."
Fifita is fast earning a reputation as a flat-track bully, a player capable of the odd stand-out performance when he's in the mood and the opposition isn't.
It was the same deal when he was at Brisbane.
The term we're looking for here is 'due diligence'.
Not enough clubs do it thoroughly enough before signing players to big money.
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