Article from the Telegraph.
Love your work Choc!
MANLY'S Test backrower Anthony Watmough has backed the board room decision to stand down Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler and urged his teammates to avoid getting involved in a mass exodus.
Fuming at the way the Sea Eagles have imploded since winning the grand final, Watmough reasoned the Hasler scenario was never going to work once the two-time premiership-winning coach signed with Canterbury-Bankstown for 2013.
Back in camp with the Kangaroos in Manchester after two days in Paris, the Australian lock labelled the current environment of in-fighting at Manly "disgusting".
"It's never really worked having a coach at one club when he's signed at another club," Watmough said.
"We've seen that in the past. I can't bag Dessie out, he's been a good bloke and he's been a good mentor to myself.
"It's still a bit of a shock but probably the [best] direction if the club stands him down is to get Tooves in there as quick as possible.
"In one way it's not a shock because it sort of had to happen.
"There's probably a bit of relief now if they do get rid of him that Tooves can take over and the boys can take his direction.
"Tooves is a great man and a great coach. We love Tooves, he's been there for a long time with us.
"We're not going to lose anything. We lost our coach but we've still got the same playing roster and the boys are always going to be solid to one another."
A one-club servant for the Sea Eagles, Watmough admitted the awkward situation at Narrabeen had him "rattled" before leaving for the four-week tour of England.
"It was always going to be difficult for Dessie to have the last year there and run the club," Watmough said.
"I suppose he's going to be trying to run two clubs at the same time.
"No one's really stoked with what's happening. It's happened. We spoke before I came over here when it was all the speculation about Dessie and the boys just wanted to stick solid.
"I personally was still a bit rattled by it before I came over here."
Asked about the possibility of teammate and Kiwi international Kieran Foran following Hasler to Canterbury-Bankstown, Watmough said: "I haven't spoke to him about it but there's always going to be people going everywhere.
"We all heard he was supposed to go to the Roosters before he re-signed with us and at the end of the day it came down to him playing with his mates.
"That was his decision. At the end of the day he wouldn't leave his mates for Dessie Hasler or anybody else.
"It's the bond we have. Dessie, the great man that he is, he didn't make that club everything it was.
"It was a great club before Dessie and the boys there at the moment they made it a great club.
"They made that great culture there. We'll still have that great culture."
Told Manly godfather Ken Arthurson and club legend Max Krilich had launched scathing attacks on Hasler, Watmough was diplomatic.
"They're entitled to their opinion. They've been there. Arko's the Godfather of rugby league so he's one guy who can have an opinion," Watmough said.
"I'm not going to bag Dessie out. I'm not going to tear him down or tear down what he's done.
"He did build a great culture there. But at the end of the day it was the people around him and the boys that were there that helped build that culture."
The Test lock fired a parting shot at all involved at the club when asked about the scenario of having only just been crowned NRL premiers before the boardroom blow-up and Hasler's departure.
"It's pretty disgusting. No one's really ever talked about the grand final since we won it," Watmough said.
"We've worked hard to get back to where we did and then it's all just sort of been up in shambles. There's probably a thousand people you can blame for that.
"The timing of it. It's not just Dessie's fault it's a lot of people's faults and it should have been handled a lot better than what it has."
