Former Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler to face inquiry at inquest into death of  Keith Titmuss following seizure in 2020 at pre-season training

Former Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler will testify at an inquest into the sudden death of Keith Titmuss following a pre-season training session in 2020.

The inquest into the 20-year-old’s death will continue on Friday, when the two-time premiership-winning NRL coach will give his side of the story.

Hasler, now head coach of the Gold Coast Titans after being sacked by the Sea Eagles in 2022, will give his evidence alongside club medical director Nathan Gibbs and general manager of football John Bonasera.

Titmuss suffered a seizure after cardio training at the club’s training base in Narrabeen, on Sydney’s northern beaches, on November 23, 2020.

He died five hours later in the hospital.

The inquest previously heard that Titmuss probably suffered exertional heatstroke, although a post-mortem could not confirm the cause of his death.

Paramedics who arrived at the scene noted that Titmuss’ temperature was 41.9°C, while his heart rate was over 140 beats per minute.

But the coaching staff and doctors did not identify that Titmuss was suffering from heat stroke and instead treated the symptoms of his seizure.

Former teammates Moses Suli and Sione Fainu told the court they heard Titmuss shouting after the training session.

Fainu described the session, one of the first held after the pre-season break, as a ‘nine out of 10’ in intensity.

Current Manly player Ben Trbojevic recalled that the players encouraged each other to keep going during the session.

Trbojevic was paired with Titmuss for part of the training and said he encouraged his teammate to keep going.

“It was hard, we were all tired,” he previously told the court.

“Looking at (Titmuss), he looked like he had a tough session, but we all looked like that.”

The investigation, which began Monday, will last two weeks.