Manly Sea Eagles head coach Des Hasler to leave following Pride Jersey fallout

Manly Sea Eagles head coach Des Hasler has been sacked months after the Pride Jersey controversy which saw seven players in the team withdrawing from an NRL game over the decision to wear the gay Pride jersey in a bid to promote diversity in league. 

The last few weeks have involved speculation about the future of Hasler’s job as well, with reports suggesting that he would not remain at Manly next season after an internal dispute with senior management. 

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, board meeting officials made the call to terminate Hasler on Thursday morning after Manly believed he “brought the club into disrepute.”

In July, The Sea Eagles club fell under controversy after their request for all players to wear the “Everyone in League” design saw multiple complaints from the Manly 7 (seven players who did not want to wear the jersey based on cultural and religious grounds). 

Leaked Emails 

Recently, leaked emails revealed that members within the Manly Sea Eagles club were aware of the pride jersey months ahead. 

The Telegraph, revealed an email exchange between Sea Eagles commercial boss Luke Tucker and general manager John Bonasera which said: “I just want to double check before production commences that we won’t have any issues with any players wearing these jerseys for this one-off game”.

Bonasera’s response was, “Don’t see an issue at all mate.”

The pride jersey was announced to the public two months after this email correspondence, in July.

Tucker added, “It’s for everyone. Male, female, gay, straight, black, white, etc, etc. It’s certainly not just focused on LGBTQ.”

Bonasera failed to pass the information on to Hasler, with The Daily Telegraph  reporting a communication breakdown between the general manager of football and the Manly  coach.

Hasler’s coaching called into question

The Sea Eagles club lost their last seven games and finished the season ranked 11th out of 16 teams. They were still in finals contention in Round 20, which occurred during the height of the pride jersey debacle. 

Coach Hasler had a year left on his contract, but his position fell under scrutiny when Manly failed to make the top 8 and a clause in his contract that would have triggered an automatic extension for 2024 was not reached. 

Manly are set to announce Anthony Seibold as his replacement for 2023. Seibold is a former coach for South Sydney and the Brisbane Broncos and is currently  a coach with the England national rugby union team.

According to Fox Sports, Hasler was open to working alongside Seibold next season but the board deciding to remove Hasler with 12 months left on his contract will see a payout worth close to $1 million for the season.