Des Hasler lashes out at fan blowing a kiss as brave Manly lose narrowly against Rabbitohs

Des Hasler had little time for niceties as he watched his Manly side put up a brave fight in their 40-22 loss against South Sydney on Friday night.

The 61-year-old reacted angrily as a fan blew a kiss towards the coaches box after the Rabbitohs scored their second try of the game to take a 12-10 lead late in the first half.

Footage posted on Twitter shows a supporter standing up right in front of the coaches box, before turning towards Hasler and blowing the Sea Eagles coach a kiss.

Des Hasler was unimpressed as a fan blew him a kiss late in the first half (right)

The Manly coach gestured towards the fan as if he swatting away a fly

The two-time premiership winner was visibly annoyed and gestured towards the fan as if he was swatting away a fly.

Hasler will have been far more impressed with his team’s display, as Manly stood tall against the Rabbithos, despite playing 71 minutes with 12 men following Karl Lawton’s sending off.

The Sea Eagles hooker became only the second player to be given his marching orders in the current NRL season after a horror tackle on Souths skipper Cameron Murray.

Hasler saw his side fall to 4-4 for the season but after a brave performance against Souths

Manly lost Karl Lawton just nine minutes into the game following a brutal tackle 

With just nine minutes gone, Lawton tackled Murray directly in front of the post and lifted him, before tipping over his horizontal and dropping him heavily to the turf. 

Despite their numerical inferiority, the Sea Eagles took a shock 8-2 lead courtesy of two tries in five minutes from Kieran Foran and Jason Saab’s first four-pointer of the season.

The Rabbitohs hit back as Keaon Koloamatangi and Alex Johnston both crossed, with the latter doing just enough to avoid Tolutau Koula and Saab before grounding the ball inside the corner post.

Cody Walker marked his 150th NRL game with a second half try for the Rabbitohs

Despite playing 13 vs 12 for 71 minutes, South Sydney were made to sweat against Manly

Christian Tuipulotu scored Manly’s third try of the game with four minutes left in the first half following Daly Cherry-Evans’ third 40-20 kick of the season, but the Rabbitohs re-took the lead on the siren as Blake Taaffe converted Isaiah Tass’ try. 

Taafe added two more conversions early in the second half as Thomas Burgess and Cody Walker, playing his 150th NRL game, both crossed for Souths.

Manly, however, weren’t done and kept the contest alive via a penalty try awarded after Cherry-Evans was adjudged to have been illegally tackled by tackled by Damien Cook as he looked set to score. 

The Sea Eagles scored three first half tries despite losing Lawton to an early red card

Manly defended resolutely and remained in the game until the final stages 

Souths, however, were not to be denied and sealed the win when Murray dived right under the posts to make it a three-score game with less than 10 minutes left and Taaffe added one for himself as the clock ticked to zero. 

The Rabbitohs climbed back into the top-eight with the win and improved to 4-4 for the season, the same record as the Sea Eagles.

Manly take on Wests next week, while Souths host the Broncos on Thursday night.