Hannay returns to Cronulla on Saturday afternoon, where he learned so much as an assistant under head coach Craig Fitzgibbon, with a new-look Titans side playing under a revamped philosophy.
One of the things 46-year-old Hannay noted from afar about regular underachievers the Titans - and which was reinforced when he took on the role - was the amount of versatility in the side.
Titans players slotted in and out of a revolving door of positions. Was AJ Brimson a fullback, a half or a centre? The outside backs switched around. Chris Randall was a hooker, an edge and a middle. The list goes on.
The Catch-22 element of that situation was there were too many "Jack of all trades" players.
"Over the course of time too many guys haven't been able to master a position," Hannay told AAP.
"I could rattle off 10 guys that could play three or four positions and that is what they had essentially been doing.
"One week they were a middle and the next an edge, one week a centre the next a winger, one week a fullback and the next a five-eighth.
"Coming on board almost one of my first objectives was to provide clarity for all those guys that had been bouncing around."
Hannay told his players they would train and play in one position, unless there was an injury crisis and they had to be moved because of their versatility.
"I have trained guys in one position, allowed them to flourish and grow and learn," he said.
"Now their minds are clear of confusion and they can focus on the hard work parts of the game."
That clarity has been evident to onlookers.
"I'm a middle now," Klese Haas said at the start of the pre-season, matter of factly.
Brimson told AAP after an impressive display in Gold Coast's trial win over Melbourne that Hannay had him pegged as No.6.
"You want the coach to give you confidence and Josh has done that and backed me as a five-eighth," Brimson said.
"That's where I have trained. I have put a lot of hard work in and now I just want to repay him."
There is a Jekyll and Hyde aspect to Titans history that Hannay wants to eradicate.
A classic case came in 2024 when they walloped Brisbane 46-18 after a perfect second half display. The following week they were woeful and were whipped 44-0 by Cronulla. Good, bad and indifferent - mostly the latter two - has been the Titans way.
"We don't want to be this team where from one week to the next we are unrecognisable. We want to be consistent with our actions," Hannay said.
"Trying to create consistent behaviour has been a real objective of mine, and ours, over the course of the pre-season and it comes back to hard work and simplifying everyone's role so they can go out really clear on what their job is.
"Then all they have got to think about is working hard for the guy next to them because they know what they have got to do."
Shark Park is often called the "Bermuda Triangle", largely because visiting teams' hopes of winning disappear quickly.
For Hannay in his five-year stay, the Cronulla environment in its totality was more of an "Equilateral Triangle". He found his equilibrium as a coach that has kept him in good stead for his first top job role.
The former Queensland representative was interim head coach for most of his first year at the club in 2021 before settling in to four years as Fitzgibbon's assistant, making two preliminary finals and playing finals the other two years.
During those four seasons he was also Maroons assistant coach to Billy Slater, winning the State of Origin series three times.
"My five years at Cronulla were life-changing in the best possible way," Hannay said.
"What I learned is the power of getting the right people in an organisation and the power of connection. That's stayed with me and shaped my beliefs around coaching.
"Craig Fitzgibbon is an incredible teacher. I feel like the luckiest bastard the last four years. I've been able to bounce between Craig at clubland and Billy Slater in Originland and learn from those two amazing blokes who are so good at what they do.
"I have nothing but love for Cronulla. I still talk to people on staff down there. We will be enemies for a day this weekend, and we certainly want to go down there and get the job done, but I have nothing but respect for that organisation."
