NRL 2021: Wests Tigers documentary draws sympathy for Michael Maguire | Paul Kent
The theme of the Tigers’ documentary is the battle between coach Michael Maguire and his players, with the winner to determine the club’s fortunes, PAUL KENT writes.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
It is not often you get to witness a man developing an ulcer in real time.
Yet, thanks to the invasion of television the torture of a coach and the pain he holds was there to see on Monday night on Fox Sports when Michael Maguire, the misunderstood Tigers coach, made his cinema debut in Wild Wests: Tales from Tigertown.
Maguire is an uncomfortable lead actor in any setting that does not have the smell of Dencorub.
He is a coach, and that is all he ever wants to be.
He openly resisted allowing the Fox Sports cameras into the dressing rooms, inside the coaches meetings and in the leadership group settings … all those areas where delicate conversations are held.
In the end he was outvoted, though, the latest in a changing world.
Sport is a business and an entertainment all rolled into one, which sits uncomfortably with coaches.
Few want their secret business of coaching revealed as much for what their rivals might pick up as anything else.
Maguire will emerge as a sympathetic figure from this series.
Watch new FOX SPORTS Original Production ‘Wild Wests: Tales from Tiger Town’ four-part docu-series premiering Mon July 19 at 7.30pm on Kayo >
It is not a thought shared widely around the game where Maguire has become somewhat of a caricature, a coach too hard on his players with standards too high to be reached, and so the perception is easy to promote.
The behind-the-scenes vision dispels that, and Maguire has support.
“The thing that shits me the most,” chief executive Justin Pascoe said early, “is the perception that hard work is a bad thing.”
Maguire knows what success looks like.
Wigan was a perennial powerhouse in the English Super League but had lost their way when Maguire was hired to turn them around.
They no longer knew what success looked like.
Maguire changed that and took Wigan to the title and was recruited to South Sydney on the back of that where he also delivered them the title.
His failing at the Rabbitohs was that he worked them hard and when they began to decline, ruptured with injury and ageing roster, his mindset was to work harder himself and train his team harder to overcome.
It is like trying to deny the sunrise, though. Bad became worse.
The Rabbitohs needed rest, and Maguire’s relationship with his players went into a tailspin.
The Tigers are a different problem.
Maguire’s reputation has carried with him to the Tigers, a team uncomfortable with the hard work required for success, and it’s a reputation certain dark voices within are using as an excuse for the team’s failings.
It is the subtext of the whole Tigers story. What we know against what we see.
A coach who knows what is required to be successful and a group that believes it is giving enough.
That is the slow burn of Wild Wests; we all know the overriding narrative.
For instance, episode two is still being edited and will be televised in two weeks, August 2, but, by season’s timing, we know it will cover the North Queensland game at Leichhardt Oval days after Tommy Raudonikis died and after the Tigers attended his memorial at the SCG.
What did Maguire say to them at halftime, when many expected an inspired Tigers performance and they trailed 28-6 at halftime?
Patient and understanding through the first month of the competition televised on Monday night, does Maguire’s temper, which intimidates some, finally flare?
How do you coach a group that cannot respond?
The evidence of the Tigers’ struggle to remain in sync with their coach was there on Monday night.
At times Maguire gave an abbreviated commentary from the coaches box, talking through what he was seeing as if in some vain hope his players might hear.
He is constantly warning his player about what is about to happen, and always comes close.
When Stefano Utoikamanu goes down injured against Canberra in round one Maguire tells his trainers to get his players to stop the game.
“Stop the game,” he said constantly. But for tackle after tackle the game continues until finally, inevitably, the set ends with the Raiders rolling down field Bailey Simonsson brings down a bomb and offloads to Hudson Young to score.
Maguire shuts back in his chair, resigned. The coach who saw it coming four tackles earlier.
There were moments through the Parramatta game where Maguire believed his Tigers were on the verge of an upset, urging his players to shift in defence only to see them get there too late, unable to see what the coach was seeing.
Their nature betrayed them, and when the moments came too many belonged to the Parramatta Eels and not the Wests Tigers.
He was a sympathetic coach after the game. Still coaching, still pleading, still investing, still bleeding …
“We’re all hurting at the moment, boys,” he said.
“I keep going back to …” and he paused, his voice choking. “F … … ing hell, you got me, you blokes …
“I just saw the effort out there, it was what we’re about as a team …
“I’m a little bit emotional here because the effort we’re putting in is right and I want you to believe that.”
It is 18 rounds in now and the battle remains the same, a coach and his relationship with his players.
The battle is always the same.
And the winner will determine the Tigers’ fortunes …
More Coverage
‘Blowhard’: Cornes backlash turns prickly
Kane Cornes has been roasted by a high profile colleague over comments that have left NRL commentators in disbelief.
Parramatta legend: ‘24 Panthers don’t have a hope against ‘83 Eels
Penrith have claimed their place in the rugby league record books, but Parramatta great Ray Price has rejected suggestions they’ve gone past his Eels, claiming they had “every position and we every tactic covered”. WHO IS BETTER? VOTE NOW.