Titans coach Des Hasler has responded to suggestions he could walk away from the club at the end of the year regardless if he is sacked or not.
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The Titans’ 36-20 loss to an undermanned Eels side saw them alone in last place on the ladder and Hasler’s future at the club is uncertain at best beyond 2025.
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Veteran journalist Brent Read put it to Hasler straight after another disappointing loss.
“There’s been some talk there at the end of the year, there’s been some whispers around the traps that you might walk away anyway, regardless of what happens,” Read said.
“No, they’re just whispers, mate. It’s just rumour and innuendo,” Hasler said.
However, Hasler admitted the club is not where it wants to be at the bottom of the NRL ladder with their hopes of playing finals all but over.
“I don’t know if there’s speculation that’s been reported, but obviously, sitting in last position that we don’t want to be in,” Hasler said.
“We thought coming in like it’s very tight there at the bottom. In those sides, it’s pretty congested.
“That’s why tonight’s game was so important for us. And I thought we were in it, we had a good chance of playing it. We can only keep trying and keep working at it.”
Hasler was disappointed his side couldn’t back up after an impressive win over Manly last week.
“I thought, coming into it, off the back of a bit of momentum from last week, I expected a better performance than what we showed tonight,” Hasler said.
“It’s the inconsistent nature of our play. You’ve got to catch balls at the back, turn over, reset, dive over from dummyhalf, kick defusal on the last play. Two of those, I thought the types of tries they scored were pretty disappointing.”
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Despite the latest loss, Hasler is hopeful his side can turn it around, but they will have to do it without halfback Jayden Campbell who suffered a concussion in the first half against the Eels.
“You’ve just got to keep working at it,” Halser said.
“And it’s the big moment plays. You’ve got to execute them. We were really conscious, particularly last week, of limiting that negative play. And on the back of some of that negative play, it’s just the pressure it builds.
“I thought in patches we played some good footy, and we lost a JC (Campbell) early, which caused a bit of disruption, but I still thought we still had enough footy in us to play better than that result and that’s disappointing.”
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Hasler said Campbell will likely miss next week due to the 11-day stand down rule for concussions.
“It’s a category one, so it’s 11 days, so there’s a possibility that he won’t play next week,” Hasler said.
“He’s okay though. We’ve got Tom Weaver there, so Tom will come in and fill that role if JC, which is more than likely not to play.
“We had a lot to play for tonight after last week. Coming down here and they’ve got their issues too. They’ve got players missing as well.”
