They are old friends and State of Origin and Kangaroos teammates, but there was no love lost on Sunday between Ricky Stuart and NRL coaching rival Des Hasler in an explosive showdown away from television cameras.
The Canberra great and his Gold Coast coach rival traded barbs in the aftermath of the Raiders’ controversial 21-20 victory that saw a Titans field goal attempt smothered by an offside player – with no penalty blown.
Stuart said Hasler was ‘on another planet’ after the Titans mentor blasted the refereeing of Kasey Badger.
Hasler said her performance was ‘pretty poor’ after his team conceded five penalties to three, and gave away eight set restarts to the Raiders’ one.
Stuart fired back and accused the Titans of ‘cheating’ by wrestling his players for extended periods while they attempted to play the ball, suggesting they could have received ‘another 10 or 12’ set restarts.
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Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart was in no mood to celebrate after his side’s narrow win on Sunday and blasted the Titans players as ‘cheats’
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Titans coach Des Hasler is old friends with Stuart and went to the dressing sheds after his media conference to tell the Raiders coach what he had said
Now it can be revealed the warring coaches had a private showdown outside of the dressing sheds.
Several witnesses confirmed the tunnel run-in that ended with Stuart allegedly saying ‘f*** you’ to his Gold Coast counterpart Hasler, according to News Corp.
That is despite the pair having a long-running friendship dating back over three decades.
Stuart and Hasler were the starting halves for the New South Wales Blues in their must-win State of Origin II match in Melbourne in 1990.
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The Raiders got away with a narrow win despite the Gold Coast Titans having a shot at field goal to win from right in front of the sticks
While Hasler struggled with a leg injury sustained early in the match, Stuart would streak away for a 70 metre try, showing Queensland winger Les Kiss a clean pair of heels, to help win both the match and the series.
Off the back of that performance in Origin, both Stuart and Hasler were picked for the 1990 Kangaroos tour of Great Britain and France.
The showdown came after Hasler tried to do the right thing by his old friend.
The Titans coach went to the Raiders sheds after he had exploded in the post-match media conference and want Stuart to hear it first from him.
However Stuart did not take the gesture well, reportedly firing back: ‘F… you, we should have got another 15 ‘six-agains’. I’m going to go hard in there [at his media conference].’
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Hasler (left, obscured by referee) and Stuart (right) were the starting halves for the New South Wales Blues in State of Origin II in 1990
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Stuart was named man of the match in that clash, which saw him race 70 metres to outsprint Queenslander Les Kiss and score a vital try for the Blues
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The match wasn’t so kind to Hasler, who battled a leg injury but was picked for the Kangaroos tour later that year along with Stuart
Compounding the issue, NRL head of football Graham Annesley confirmed on Monday that Raiders fullback Chevy Stewart was offside when he charged down Titans captain Kieran Foran’s attempt at field goal in the 87th minute.
Annesley’s stats also showed that the Raiders were offside on 10 occasions that were not penalised, but overall they were onside 94 per cent of the time compared to the Titans’ 89.4 per cent.
Hasler, who joked he’d be fined $25,000 for his rant, said ‘some’ of the penalties were warranted.
‘Some of them just leave us battling field position the whole time,’ he said.
