Michael Maguire opens up on Origin ambitions, creating a dynasty and finding time for family
For Michael Maguire, the sanctity of the Blues jumper is not only worth preserving but defending. In the wake of Origin victory, the NSW coach opens up on how standing up for his players helped create an unbeatable Blues bond.
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Being a father to three teenagers is hard but is it tougher than building a State of Origin dynasty?
NSW coach Michael Maguire doesn’t hesitate when asked the question.
“I think head coaching is easier, the kids have a way of wrapping me around their little finger to get what they want,” Maguire laughs.
It’s been less than three weeks since Maguire, and his brood of fresh-faced Blues, defied Origin history to win a decider at Suncorp Stadium for the first time in almost 20 years.
But there’s been no rest, or days off, for the former South Sydney premiership-winning coach on the Origin or home front.
Maguire’s wife Joelle, an event planner, is working at the Paris Olympics, leaving the coach to corral his three teenage children, Iyla, 17, Kaden, 14, and Eadie, 13, back home.
“For me now, I’m just back on the tools as a parent,” Maguire said.
“But doing that represents what this NSW team is about: family.
“I’m really enjoying my time with the kids. Being a NRL head coach, you lose a lot of your weekends so it’s nice to have more time now to appreciate that, even things like going to watch them play weekend sport.
“My wife has done an incredible job over the years with me being away a lot. I’m very blessed for that.”
But like being a parent, being a coach is a full-time job to Maguire, who by his own admission has no “off-switch”.
That’s why when Maguire is asked about the victory in the decider the Blues coach responds, again without hesitation, that the “job is not yet done”.
OUR DYNASTY PLANS
Every NSW fan knows about false dawns.
The hopeful promises of a Blues dynasty crumbled as quickly as they appeared in 2014 and 2018.
But dynasties always eventually fall, even Queensland’s after an eight-straight series reign.
That’s why Maguire not only wants to build a dynasty, but also a long-lasting legacy.
“I like to build something that goes on; what we are going through right now is only the start,” Maguire said.
“When you feel what we just went through you want more and more of it and this group of players is hungry for more success.
“This team understands what they need to do to create a dynasty.
“That starts with remembering this moment, the hard work it took and why it means so much for everyone in NSW, from the fans to the past players to the kids that will one day wear the Blues jumper.”
Next year’s team has the potential to be even stronger given Tom Trbojevic and Nathan Cleary missed all of this year’s series, while Latrell Mitchell proved in game two that he belongs in a Blues jersey.
The TAB has already installed the Blues as hot $1.65 favourites to win the 2025 series.
CULTURE WARS
Like everyone in the state, Maguire was fed-up with the narrative that State of Origin means more to Queensland than to NSW.
Worse still, that the Blues jumper was not revered by its players in the way the Maroons jumper was.
Maguire made it his mission from the day he was appointed in November 2023 to restore the “spirit” in the NSW jumper.
“I spoke to as many ‘old boys’ as I could, it didn’t matter whether they played one game or 15 for the Blues and they all had a burning passion for the jumper. We knew to get that message across to the current crop we had to take it back to the 80s,” Maguire said.
To be exact, Maguire took it all the way back to 1985.
To when Canterbury great Steve Mortimer slumped to his knees and kissed the hallowed ground of the SCG as NSW claimed its first series win.
The coach played a six-minute inspirational video of that famous win and the heroics of Mortimer, who is battling dementia, on day one of the first camp during a private function.
Mortimer was one of 85 NSW old boys in the room that day.
“That’s when the spirit of the NSW jersey was born, with Steve Mortimer and those great players,” Maguire said.
“Steve’s presence captured everyone in the room. A lot of the younger players had no idea who Steve Mortimer is, but they know now and they understand the history of the NSW jersey.
“At this moment, through the ‘Turvey Spirit’ this current group of players is elevating the Blues jersey and what it stands for.”
Two months before that private function, Maguire organised a bonding session at the Glenmore Hotel in The Rocks – again with former players as the guests of honour.
The room was filled with greats from all eras, some more painful than others.
“Peter Sterling, Mick Cronin, Craig Young, the Morris brothers, Wade Graham, Paul Gallen were all there,” Maguire said.
“I’ll never forget, as I walked out at the end of the night, I turned around and they were all sitting in a circle telling stories and having a laugh.
“After being around the old boys, the players today recognise whatever we achieve now are the stories they can tell to the next generations in 20 or 30 years time.
“Why can’t we continually be talking about the greatness of what NSW can be, of what it is?”
GLASS HOUSES
To Maguire the sanctity of the Blues jumper is not only worth preserving but defending.
So is every player that wears the jersey.
That’s why Maguire did not hesitate to throw his “glasshouses” barb at Queensland coach Billy Slater and his Maroons.
Maroons great Johnathan Thurston had questioned Maguire’s tactics in game one after Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was sent off for taking out Reece Walsh.
As Suaalii left the field, Queensland assistant coach Nate Myles sprayed the debutant as he went up the tunnel.
“I’ve always protected my players. I feel like there was a period in that first game where there was a bit of a disrespect in periods, and that’s just my opinion,” Maguire said.
Inside Michael Maguire’s NSW Blues rebuild: 40 Origin legends return to help bring down Queensland https://t.co/JXYabhcZbJ via @dailytelegraph
— Dean Ritchie (@BulldogRitchie) July 15, 2024
“But I thought ‘you know what?! I’m not going to let that go by’.
“I got on the front foot, and said what I said. The one thing I was always going to do is protect my players.
“I’ve never changed, whether as an NRL coach or Origin coach, from being the protector of my players.
“But the Origin arena… the theatre of Origin is so huge so I worked with that.”
And work it did.
Maguire’s comments only further galvanised his troops and strengthened the bond this newest band of Blues brothers is trying to build.
“It galvanised them, it enhanced what the group has become,” Maguire said.
“That bond was obvious in the last game in how they wanted to look after each other.
“The game has changed a lot and I understand the scuffle on the sideline, with Cameron Murray coming in from the bench isn’t encouraged, but this is a team that is united and a team that knows what they want the Blues jersey to represent.”
BLUES MOUNTAIN
As well as spending endless hours tapping into the history of NSW, one of the first big calls Maguire made was to relocate the side’s base from Coogee to the Blue Mountains.
At the Origin level, coaching is less about drills than it is understanding that bonds and history build dynasties and legacies.
“There aren’t too many distractions at the Blue Mountains, so the players spent a lot more time together,” Maguire said.
“Rather than ducking away somewhere, players were going out of their way to reach out to a teammate they might not know very well and spend time together.
“How do you build a bond if you don’t do that? The time they spend together getting to know each other is more important than the training.”
NEXT FRONTIER
That’s why Maguire has not put the coach’s clipboard down, or the telephone, since leaving Suncorp Stadium two weeks ago.
He’s already been busy meeting with the players that helped him create history.
He has a camp in the works for the off-season, which will bring NSW’s emerging players together with the senior squad.
Maguire was also spotted with his kids last weekend in the stands of CommBank Stadium at the Parramatta and Melbourne clash.
“I used to love going to the footy with my old man, and now with my kids they love going too,” Maguire said.
“They’ve grown up with it. To be able to go and sit in the stands to just watch players, I love it.
“I also just go to see how the players are travelling and if at any point I feel like I can give them a hand, I’ll help them out.”
FINDING HOME
Maguire knows better than most that nothing is guaranteed in rugby league.
After title success in England with Wigan, Maguire guided South Sydney to its first premiership in 43 years in 2014, before departing in 2017 and taking over as Kiwis coach in 2018.
He parted ways with the Tigers after three and half seasons in 2022.
The transient nature of the sport is one reason he still rents his family home in Maroubra.
“Someone advised me of that (to rent) a long time ago. We’ve been there for 10 years now. Being a coach, it’s transient. You don’t plan for it to be that way, it just is,” Maguire said.
“But we have been really fortunate if the experiences coaching can give but it can be very challenging as well.”
Like Maroubra, the Blues now also feels like home for Maguire.
For how long is another matter entirely.
Maguire has never shied away from his ambitions to become an NRL head coach again.
Before appointing Jason Ryles, Parramatta bosses inquired with Maguire about the vacant head coach at the club.
But Maguire wanted to show the same devotion to the Blues job that he expected from his players towards the NSW jersey.
“I’m a coach at heart, to watch the players go back to their clubs, it’s a bit lonely to be honest,” Maguire said.
“You’ve had the players at such a high, and all of a sudden they go back to their club.
“Everyone, the players, the coaching staff, the fans are all hungry for more.
“So we’ll keep going.”
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Originally published as Michael Maguire opens up on Origin ambitions, creating a dynasty and finding time for family
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