There is a push among Gold Coast Titans powerbrokers for the clauses in the contract of coach Des Hasler to be removed as pressure mounts on the veteran mentor and his last-placed team.
According to Nine journalist Michael Chammas, some club powerbrokers believe the clauses included in Hasler’s three-year contract, one of which states Gold Coast can cut him loose at the end of this season if the Titans don’t reach the finals, are causing “unnecessary pressure” and have “undermined him”.
The other clause in Hasler’s contract states the Titans can get rid of him once the team is mathematically unable to qualify for the finals.
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News Corp broke the story after the Titans were thumped by the Bulldogs 38-18 in round nine.
The Titans will collect two points for this week’s bye and will therefore likely climb off the bottom of the ladder, but the grim reality on the Gold Coast is the club is running last with seven losses, only three wins and a differential of -100 points.
Chammas said on Nine’s 100% Footy on Monday night that some Titans powerbrokers were pushing for Hasler’s clauses to be removed, prompting Phil Gould to reiterate his high opinion of the team’s potential.
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Titans coach Des Hasler. Getty
“They’ve got huge talent,” Gould said.
“All you have to do is win some games. You win some games, all this goes away. Scuttlebutt goes away … Everything goes away. You’ve just got to win some games. Knuckle down and win some games.”
Earlier this season, Gould had pinpointed the Titans as the team he would choose to coach if he could pick one.
“[They are] a very dangerous football team,” Gould, the Bulldogs’ general manager of football, said on Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles with Gus podcast.
“They are a good side and if I could pick one team to coach — I can’t coach anymore; by today’s standards I’m not a coach and not in the same postcode — but if you could pick one team to coach, fair dinkum I’d pick the Gold Coast Titans.
“They’ve got great talent … Right at this moment, I reckon they’ve got great talent.”
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