Twenty months after being sacked by Canterbury and taking the NRL club to court, Des Hasler has sought to bury the hatchet with the Bulldogs, saying he's heartened by their improvement.
In late 2017, Hasler was shoved out the door at Belmore despite having signed a contract extension just five months earlier.
He was supposed to still be in charge of the club in 2019 but was let go and eventually reached an out-of-court settlement for a payout.
He is back at Manly and has them punching above their weight despite a swelling injury toll which this week saw Daly Cherry-Evans (ankle) and Jorge Taufua (calf) join Tom Trbojevic (hamstring) on the sidelines.
Hasler will come up against his former side for the first time at Lottoland on Saturday evening and insists there is nothing personal in the clash.
He said he was heartened to see the likes of Lachlan Lewis, Reimis Smith and Rhyse Martin continue to flourish and hasn't been surprised by their signs of improvement.
"I've been very impressed with how they're playing," Hasler said.
"They've played some top teams, one of them (South Sydney), they played Melbourne in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago and they took both of those sides all the way. It will be an entertaining game."
Cherry-Evans underwent surgery this week and Hasler said he could be back in as little as four weeks.
The Bulldogs are set to be buoyed by the early return of prop Dylan Napa (ankle) however playmaker Kieran Foran (ankle) has been cut from the squad after earlier in the week being named on an extended bench.
With Taufua out, the Sea Eagles have handed a debut to Lebanese international Abbas Miski.
"He looks a little bit like Josh Mansour," Hasler said.
"It's another great story. We had Michael Robertson, who is pretty synonymous with scoring tries, he scored three tries in the (2008) grand final, he presented his jersey to him this morning.
"It's someone who just kept working and working at it and it's great to see young players like that get their opportunity."
STATS THAT MATTER
* The Bulldogs have won seven of the last nine games against the Sea Eagles dating back to 2014.
* Manly has lost seven of its past eight games without Cherry-Evans, including losing its past three at Lottoland.
* Hasler and Bulldogs coach Dean Pay played seven games against each other in the 1990s, with Pay edging Hasler with four wins including the 1995 grand final.
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