Rugby league great Peter Sterling doesn’t believe Canterbury coach Des Hasler’s future should be in question, despite the Bulldogs’ 36-0 loss to Manly on Saturday.

Hasler’s tenure was again a topic of conversation following the loss, as he aims to have a two-year contract extension finalised by the NRL club.

The two-time premiership winner is off-contract at the end of the season, and his future was robustly discussed at Bulldogs HQ at the end of last season, with club legend Steve Mortimer quitting the board over the matter.

The Bulldogs are now 1-3 after the opening month of the campaign, however Saturday’s flogging will be of most concern to the club’s powerbrokers.

The loss marked the team’s seventh loss in eight games stemming from last season, and the equal-second heaviest in Hasler’s five years at the helm.

But Sterling said he found it odd there continued to be question marks surrounding Hasler’s future.

“The vast majority of clubs in the competition would kill for the results they have had under Des Hasler,” Sterling told Triple M.

“I said (earlier) that I couldn’t quite understand why there was even talk about Des being in the spotlight when he’s been there for five years, finals every time, they’ve been to two grand finals.

“But where there’s smoke, is there fire?”

Hasler described his side as flat in Saturday’s loss, but said he had been happy with performances in the opening three weeks.

“It’s early in the season. You’d love to say sometimes you have those games,” Hasler said.

“We were very flat and terribly flat.”

The veteran coach has taken the Bulldogs to the 2012 and 2014 grand finals, and has a 58 per cent win-loss record at the club.

However, they are yet to claim the premiership they so desperately desire.

Hasler has won two titles since he first began coaching at Manly in 2004, and has taken his sides to the finals for the past 12 years – the longest current streak in the NRL.

Last week Wests Tigers coach Jason Taylor was sacked just three games into the season after his team wereheavily beaten in consecutive weeks.

It marked the earliest in a season a coach had been relinquished of their duties in the NRL era.