If anyone can teach Manly a thing or two about returning Lottoland to the Brookvale Oval fortress it once was, it’s Des Hasler.
Saturday’s clash with the Sydney Roosters will mark Hasler’s return to the ground he’s won at 151 times – including 66 as a coach.
In his last year in charge of Manly – in the premiership-winning year of 2011 – his Sea Eagles were undefeated at the ground.
In comparison, Manly won just three of 10 at the ground – their equal-least since 1964 – in 2018, with crowds tumbling to a 52-year low.
“That’s a page that we are definitely happy to tear out of the book and rewrite the history for,” prop Martin Taupau said.
“It’s our sanctuary. It’s where we win games and want to win games.”
Hasler has not yet spoken to his troops about the importance of winning at home this NRL campaign, but is likely to do so this week.
In his previous stint as coach from 2004 to 2011, Manly never lost more than 50 per cent of NRL home games in a given season.
Hasler’s overall winning percentage at the ground as mentor sits at 70 per cent.
“He hasn’t put too much emphasis on it, obviously he wants to win every game we play – he’s such a competitive bloke,” Jake Trbojevic said.
“Hopefully we can turn our form around from last year. Obviously we didn’t win too many there. It would be good if we can have a better record.”
Hasler’s new chapter got off to a losing start on Saturday with 20-2 defeat to Wests Tigers but signs of improvement were clear, having undergone a brutal pre-season that focused strongly on defence.
“Our defence was astronomical in comparison to the past three years,” Taupau said.
“Our structures definitely kept us at bay. You look at the first half and we were 2-0 up. Our defence was a huge positive out of that.”