Paul Kent: Michael Maguire is the right man to repair NSW’s Origin culture

New coach Michael Maguire is the medicine that an ailing NSW Origin outfit needs, but will the team be tough enough to cop the dose, asks PAUL KENT.

NSW Origin coach Michael Maguire. Art: Scott 'Boo' Bailey

For everybody that dared read the advanced billing, the sight of Michael Maguire turning up on your doorstep is not a comfortable thought.

Maguire has been depicted in recent years as something of a cross between a bull mastiff and Dracula. The first instinct is to look for the fangs.

He carried a reputation for working his players so hard you figured he carried a bullwhip to the training paddock. It wasn’t training, it was survival.

It began those final years at South Sydney when he started calling out the drop in standards and drop in efforts that alarmed him enough to challenge them but not enough for anybody else to take notice.

NSW Origin coach Michael Maguire. Art: Scott 'Boo' Bailey

He soon lost the narrative and the Rabbitohs, overlooking that he delivered the club its first premiership in 43 years, after all that the club had been through, moved him on to keep the players happy.

So Maguire headed to the Wests Tigers where he was sacked and then reappointed and then sacked again among constant murmurings from the players.

Somewhere on their quest for success the comfy Tigers figured it too tough and decided they would prefer to have their tummies tickled than worked into any kind of shape and so Maguire was portrayed as the ogre.

He was cut adrift and since then has fought to shake off his reputation.

NSW Blues coach Michael Maguire.

Wherever he looked it preceded him.

Lost in it all was that wherever the players put their heads down and worked – at Wigan, at Souths, the New Zealand Kiwis – Maguire succeeded.

So heavy was the criticism, though, there is little doubt here he questioned himself along the way.

The Kiwis restored him, though.

And now Maguire has the job of coaching NSW, he is off again in the business of shaping reputations.

Not just for himself, this time, but in what might be the biggest rebuild of all.

For months now Maguire has been heading around the NRL turning up in doorways and at coffee shops to sit down with anyone with seemingly even a passing interest in the Blues.

It began with the players. Every potential Blue has or is getting a visit, which is enough to send some to the front door now.

Just this week Maguire was in the newspapers for talking up Zac Lomax’s chances of taking a NSW wing spot.

It surprised some but Maguire wanted him to know the interest was genuine, Lomax’s chances enhanced given NSW has a shortage of wingers. The rest is now up to Lomax.

Maguire has spoken to more than 60 NSW players so far. He would be closing in on that amount of past players.

A screengrab of Michael Maguire from Fox League's Wild Wests documentary. Picture: SUPPLIED

In all the conversations he is searching for the hidden ingredient; what it is that is NSW’s identity.

For Queensland the narrative is easy; they fight hard to remain the underdog and they play for the people of Queensland.

It is a basic thought but enough to get the Queensland adrenaline pumping, and that is all that is necessary.

But the differences between NSW and Queensland is subtle enough that even when the Blues are legitimate underdogs the Blues can’t steal the narrative.

NSW has to be comfortable being the big state. It’s what makes Origin works.

The Blues have never been comfortable being the favourites and the greater depth among clubs has had a counter productive impact, providing endless options in times of loss.

It has fed the Queensland narrative.

Queensland has never got confused because there was rarely another option.

The Blues usually tie themselves in knots.

Losses have seen players pilloried with a pile on that starts with the fans and bleeds through former players, or vice versa, nobody is truly sure.

Either way, it has damaged the aspiration to play for NSW, something that has shocked Maguire.

More than enough players have been scarred from their poor treatment in recent years that they are questioning whether they want to put themselves through it again.

Past greats are so disappointed with some performances they have lost much of the goodwill they naturally held.

It’s a toxic environment.

With no clear plan former coach Brad Fittler chopped and changed and left more than a couple of players hanging after sub-par performances. The public anger focused on the players instead of where it should have been, which was the coach.

Michael Maguire fell out with the South Sydney players after winning a premiership. Picture: Mark Evans

Former players privately questioned selections and then let their disappointment be known afterwards they were proven right.

And the greatest disappointment of all, the Blues lost too many games they simply should have won given an even effort.

That is what frustrates fans and former players most. Origin folklore is flooded with Queensland upset wins. A solid look and a thick magnifying glass would fail to find more than a few upset results going the other way.

When NSW had a chance to finally diminish at least part of Queensland’s dominance during The Era – winning 12 of 13 series – the Blues ran out with a clearly superior squad on paper but failed to get in the fight and Queensland came away with a couple of series that most Blues fans quietly concede would never have happened if the talent was stacked the other way around.

That is the frustration Maguire is trying to eliminate, in fans, past greats, and current players.

The Maroons have always known who they are and what they stand for.

The Blues have, but in glimpses.

The Maroons delight in it, too, bless them.

Years back, NSW players and officials sat in a dressing room wondering how they let another win get away when everything in the form guide said NSW should have romped in.

“They’re shattered in there,” said an NRL official.

“And you know the best thing,” said Paul Vautin, down from the commentary box, “they’re in there eating themselves alive right now.”

He was so right.

Maguire has set himself a bigger job than simply winning a series.

If successful, he could reshape the Blues and their identity forever forward.

Now that he is coaching men he stands a chance.

* * * * *

Two and a bit rounds in and there isn’t a finer sight in the game than how well some of the biggest names in the game have begun the season.

The old days of teams working slowly into the season, like Melbourne Cup stayers resuming in the early spring, are long gone now.

Now, NRL teams hit the ground like flighty two-year-olds, fully fit and pushing.

It began with the Vegas extravaganza and has continued with the sight of the likes of Tom Trbojevic fit and healthy.

Trbojevic has had his problems in the past, basically brought about because his body failed to keep up with his prodigious talent, playing at a level his body couldn’t keep up with.

Hard work in rehab and a tough off-season have Trbojevic acknowledge this week that he is in peak fitness and his early form has supported it.

Turbo leads a rare group at the moment.

There has rarely been a better time for fullbacks in the game.

James Tedesco is back to his best while the likes of Reece Walsh, Dylan Edwards, Kalyn Ponga, Ryan Papenhuyzen and of course Latrell Mitchell, throwing in Clint Gutherson and Scott Drinkwater, and the game has never been richer for fullbacks.

There was a time when the game was dominated by halfbacks but not anymore.

Unfortunately that is a sign of the times, the result of over coaching in junior footy where ambitious junior coaches put on their Jack Gibson hats and coach to win premierships instead of teaching the game’s proper fundamentals.

Nathan Cleary remains the standout there, showing the benefits of proper coaching as a junior.

Originally published as Paul Kent: Michael Maguire is the right man to repair NSW’s Origin culture