Rugby league coach Des Hasler will give evidence at an inquest into player Keith Titmuss’s sudden death at a training session with the Manly Sea Eagles.
A probe into the 20-year-old’s death continues on Friday, when the premiership-winning NRL coach is set to give evidence more than three years after the promising player fell ill during pre-season training.
Hasler, now head coach of the Gold Coast Titans after the Sea Eagles sacked him, is expected to give evidence alongside Manly’s chief medical officer Nathan Gibbs and general manager of football John Bonasera.
Titmuss suffered a seizure after a cardio workout at the club’s base at Narrabeen, on Sydney’s northern beaches, on November 23, 2020.
He died five hours later in hospital.
The inquest previously heard he most likely suffered exertional heat stroke, although an autopsy was unable to confirm his cause of death.
Paramedics who arrived at the scene noted Titmuss’s temperature was 41.9C, while his heart rate was over 140 beats per minute.
But coaching staff and medical practitioners did not identify that Titmuss was suffering heat stroke, treating the symptoms of his seizure instead.
Former teammates Moses Suli and Sione Fainu told the court they heard Titmuss screaming following the training session.
Fainu described the session, one of the first held after the off-season break, as a “nine out of 10” for intensity.
Current Manly player Ben Trbojevic remembered players had encouraged each other to get through the training.
Trbojevic was paired with Titmuss for part of the training and said he encouraged his teammate to keep going.
“It was tough, we were all under fatigue,” he previously told the court.
“Looking at (Titmuss), he looked like he’d done a hard session, but we all looked like that.”
The inquest, which started on Monday, is scheduled to run for two weeks.
