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Des Hasler is a coach under pressure.
- Canterbury Bulldogs have endured 1-3 start to the NRL season
- Early-season nadir reached in last weekend's 36-0 thumping at hands of Manly
- Players have backed under-pressure coach Des Hasler
Last week's 36-0 defeat to Manly was the team's third loss in four games.
But his players are standing by him for now.
"At the end of the day it was our performance on the weekend that cost us the game. Des wasn't out there," prop Aiden Tolman said.
"At the moment we're [1-3] and we're not going too great, so that pressure builds a bit.
"But we've got full support here from Des and moving forward that's the way it's going to continue."
Hasler has overcome worse starts to a season.
In 2013 the Bulldogs lost five of their first six games before storming home to make the finals.
"Des has our full support at the moment," lock Greg Eastwood said.
"We're right behind him. We've been to six finals in the last six years he's been here. He's got the right formula."
But this season has already proved cutthroat for coaches.
Wests Tigers' Jason Taylor had more losses than wins during his tenure at the club, and his poor record ultimately cost him his job.
But it's a different story with Hasler.
The veteran coach has won two premierships with Manly and has taken the Bulldogs to the finals for the past five years since joining the club, including two grand finals.
"There's a high level of expectation on coaches these days," former NRL coach Matt Elliott said.
"If teams aren't performing the easiest person to hold responsible for that is the coach."
Elliott was sacked by the Panthers in 2011 and said the buck does not stop with the coach.
"Certainly the coach is responsible and he has to take on a large amount of responsibility, but it doesn't remove the responsibility from the playing group," he said.
"Equally it does not remove responsibility from the people that administer this whole process."
The Bulldogs have scored fewer points than any other team in the competition and are currently 13th on the ladder.
Their season does not get any easier this week because they play the Broncos on Thursday night.
Eastwood said he believes the team can bounce back.
"Des is never out of ideas, the professor, he's always got something up his sleeve," he said.
Topics: nrl, rugby-league, sport, canterbury-2193, sydney-2000, nsw, australia