Origin success will ensure Michael Maguire’s phone keeps ringing with offers to coach in the NRL

State of Origin success has made Billy Slater the hottest coaching property in the NRL, which is why Michael Maguire should ignore any phone calls from the Eels, writes David Riccio.

Michael Maguire should rule himself out of the race for the Parramatta job – and Queensland rival Billy Slater is all the proof that the NSW coach needs.

Ever since steering the Maroons to an Origin series win in his first year as coach in 2022, Slater has fielded inquiries from every NRL club that has undergone a change in coach.

You can work out which clubs they are.

So hot does his phone ring, Slater is the most in-demand coach that is yet to accept an NRL head coaching position.

Even clubs that don’t yet exist in the NRL have begun calling his agent, George Mimis.

That’s the power of Origin success, which Maguire is two games away from achieving.

As we learned on NRL 360 last Tuesday, Slater says: “If I’m not QLD’s coach, I’m no one’s coach.”

He’s happy to just keep swatting the offers away.

This is the identical path Maguire must follow with the Blues – and those closest to him are adamant that he will, such is the depth of his personal investment in restoring pride to the state of NSW.

NSW Blues coach Michael Maguire.

Without saying it publicly, Maguire could care less about coaching in the NRL right now.

That’s not intended to sound arrogant or egotistical towards the Eels current predicament, or any other club for that matter, but that’s what State of Origin coaching demands.

In Maguire’s mind, it’s what the Blues players demand of him.

Even those watching from afar can judge Maguire’s transition into the NSW head coaching role for themselves.

There is nothing to suggest Maguire has one foot in Origin and the other in clubland.

The reveal is in how Maguire has gone all-in for the Blues, both for this series and the future.

Without anyone knowing, Maguire orchestrated a two-year deal for the Blues to be based at the Fairmont Resort in the Blue Mountains before Christmas last year.

The deal coincides with Maguire’s own tenure as Blues coach, through until the end of the 2025 series.

Maguire’s desire to think beyond this year’s series was also in his team selections.

What coach with one eye on an NRL coaching gig makes a decision so major that it has changed James Tedesco’s life and career, with the NSW captain axed for debutant Dylan Edwards?

What Origin coach without a vision for NSW selects six debutants, including the likes of Zac Lomax, Spencer Leniu and Cameron McInnes.

Ever since he was appointed by the NSWRL board to take over from Brad Fittler last November, Maguire has been devising a plan to not only smack Queensland on the field, but do it with the entire state behind him.

He began by calling every NSW Blue that he could find.

It didn’t matter if you had played one or 20 Origins for the state.

Mick Cronin, Bradley Clyde, Wade Graham, Greg Alexander, Anthony Watmough, Boyd Cordner, Craig Wing, Garry Jack, Paul Gallen, Anthony Minichiello, Paul McGregor and of course, Steve Mortimer.

Steve Mortimer is carried from the field after leading NSW To State of Origin victory in 1985.

Fans will begin – if they haven’t already – to hear the current squad reference in interviews the “spirit of Turvey Mortimer” both before, throughout and after this year’s series.

In team meetings and after-dinner chats, Mortimer is the symbol of NSW greatness that Maguire has had every Blues player latch themselves to throughout the build-up into Origin I next Wednesday night.

The players have listened to Mortimer’s story of immense pride for the Blue jersey and spirit, how after years of hatred and spite towards Queensland, the champion halfback captained the Blues to their first series win in 1985.

Through what Maguire is trying to build, the Blues players understand that Mortimer is just as influential to the course of NSW Origin history as to what Wally Lewis is to Queensland.

The Eels themselves are still deciding whether to act now, by commencing interviews with rising stars of the coaching ranks Josh Hannay and Jason Ryles, or wait until the series is over, to see what magic Maguire conjures with NSW.

Parramatta should get moving now for a number of reasons, including the need to start the delicate process of inevitable change in staff and playing roster.

Maguire should take himself out of the discussion.

Because as Slater has shown, Maguire will have more than just Parramatta chasing him over the next two years, if he can dominate as a coach of State of Origin.