Buzz: Pressure builds on Wests Tigers’ Michael Maguire as Shane Flanagan waits for coaching shot
The Sharks were in a similar position to Wests Tigers when Shane Flanagan started a rebuild that would lead to a premiership and he is capable of doing it again, writes PHIL ROTHFIELD.
Opinion
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The Wests Tigers have missed out on yet another big-name signing opportunity, placing further pressure on the board to sack coach Michael Maguire.
On Sunday morning Storm forward Dale Finucane joined the likes of Latrell Mitchell, Tevita Pangai Junior, Josh Addo-Carr, Jai Arrow, AJ Brimson, Matt Moylan and Joseph Suaalii in rejecting lucrative offers from the struggling club in the last 18 months.
And they’re only the ones we’ve heard about.
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Even Canterbury, who have hopelessly struggled in recent years, have been able to snare Matt Burton, Pangai Junior, probably Paul Vaughan, Addo-Carr, Luke Thompson (who almost every club chased) and Nick Cotric while he was a NSW and Australian player.
But no one wants to go to the Wests Tigers.
There is even a senior official at the Wests Tigers who has been ringing around player managers in recent weeks to ask: “Is it Madge?”
Latrell Mitchell could have pocketed an extra $1.2 million by signing to play for Maguire instead of Wayne Bennett at the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
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Souths offered him $800,000 for one year, the Wests Tigers $1.2 million per season for three years. That is a huge monetary sacrifice.
The Finucane story is similar. He has taken an average of around $650,000 a year from the Sharks but could have got $800,000 a year from the Wests Tigers.
This has become a huge issue for the club on top of another season of terrible results.
In the last five weeks this team has now conceded 212 points at an average of 42.4 per game.
They can’t just wait for old four-time premiership winning coach Tim Sheens, who has been out of the NRL for 10 years, to come in and fix things.
They can’t just wait to find the next James Tedesco out of Campbelltown.
The Wests Tigers’ board has a huge decision to make.
Do they stick with Maguire or find a coach with a proven track record of building a premiership-winning side.
The Cronulla Sharks were in a similar position to the Wests Tigers when Shane Flanagan started a roster rebuild that would lead them to the 2016 premiership win.
He got James Maloney from the Roosters, Andrew Fifita, Beau Ryan and Chris Heighington from the Wests Tigers.
He got Luke Lewis and Wade Graham from the Penrith Panthers. Ben Barba from the Canterbury Bulldogs, Jack Bird from St George Illawarra and perhaps the most important signing of all, Mick Ennis from the Bulldogs.
Equal credit for the recruitment should go to skipper Paul Gallen, who was the NSW captain at the time and so many players in the NRL wanted to play in his team.
Flanagan is about to become available for another head coaching job.
He has made some well-documented mistakes.
None more so than hiring people on his high-performance staff at the Sharks who injected peptides into his players.
Rightly or wrongly, there are still clubs concerned about his image, all these years later.
However it’s got to a stage for a club like the Wests Tigers where they have no choice.
It’s obvious they will not improve with their current roster – or their current coach.
THE SIGNS ARE THERE
Players Michael Maguire has missed at Wests Tigers
Dale Finucane, Latrell Mitchell, Tevita Pangai Junior, Josh Addo-Carr, Jai Arrow, A J Brimson, Matt Moylan
Players Shane Flanagan signed at Cronulla
James Maloney, Michael Ennis, Andrew Fifita, Luke Lewis, Wade Graham, Ben Barba, Jack Bird, Chis Heighington.
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