Canterbury coach Des Hasler’s renowned meticulousness appears to have ensured his house was one of the few left undamaged on Sydney’s battered Collaroy beachfront strip.
According to the Seven Network, the NRL mentor purchased his home on the Collaroy beach front last year, but not before some extensive research.
Analysing the average king tide height and previous extreme storms which have hit the region in the past 50 years, Hasler decided the property’s retaining wall was not high enough to protect the house.
He built it higher and that work paid off at the weekend.
The former Manly hooker’s house was left untouched during the flooding and king tides, with the water lapping up to within centimetres of the top of the wall.