NRL Knights v Titans, Rabbitohs v Broncos: Live scores, updates, SuperCoach analysis
Eleven years after leading South Sydney to a drought-breaking title, Michael Maguire returns to Homebush to confront premiership ghosts of his past, while reinforcing the title-winning formula he’s implementing at Red Hill.
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Brisbane coach Michael Maguire says his fairytale premiership triumph at South Sydney is the perfect recipe to break the Broncos’ 19-year title drought.
Maguire goes back to the future on Friday night when he faces the Rabbitohs club he coached to the NRL premiership in 2014, breaking the club’s 43-year title drought.
It is only fitting Maguire should return to Sydney’s Accor Stadium, the very ground where he shed tears as he embraced Greg Inglis and Sam Burgess after Souths’ 30-6 defeat of Canterbury in the 2014 decider.
Maguire’s premiership-winning halfback that night was a kid he had blooded two years earlier, a local Souths junior called Adam Reynolds.
Fast forward 11 years and the old firm is back in Broncos colours, with Maguire and Reynolds, now Brisbane’s skipper, determined to make a premiership statement against the Rabbitohs.
For Maguire, the return to Homebush will not only stir premiership ghosts, but reinforce the title-winning template that he plans to implement at Red Hill in search of Brisbane’s first title since 2006.
“It was one of the great moments of my life,” Maguire recalls of the 2014 premiership win.
“It was special to bring so much success to a massive club with a great history and what I achieved at South Sydney – that’s what I want for the Broncos.
“I’m trying not to live in the past though.
“Well and truly what I did at Souths … I want to do for the Broncos.”
While Maguire was blessed with a stacked squad featuring names like Inglis, Burgess, Reynolds, Luke Keary, Lote Tuqiri and John Sutton, he says the key Souths’ success was a team unity that broke the spirit of others.
That’s what Maguire wants to instil at the star-studded Broncos.
“The key to that squad was the belief and the connection amongst the team,” he said.
“We had some great individuals but we had a very connected group of men. There are lifelong bonds with that group. When you win a grand final, to this day I stay in touch with the guys and we’ll always have that as a group.
“The connection and bond with the players and staff at Souths, that’s what I want to replicate here at the Broncos.
“It was such a special time and because of the relationships we formed, we just felt something building and that’s the dream I want for the Broncos.”
Like his move to the Broncos, Maguire never saw his big break at Souths coming. He was plying his trade a world away in the English Super League with Wigan when Souths co-owner Russell Crowe came calling.
“I never expected to coach Souths,” he said.
“I was over at Wigan and to be truthfully honest, I have no idea how they tracked me down.
“I was happy at Wigan and we were travelling along well, but I guess I had a reputation of being under Craig Bellamy at Melbourne and that may have opened the window for me at Souths.
“I spoke to all the hierarchy there. I was having a great time at Wigan and I wasn’t thinking of the NRL at that stage.
“But the opportunity to come home and be coaching in the toughest rugby league competition in Australia, that was something I always wanted to do.
“I was pretty fortunate that I had players at Souths that I had worked with at the Storm, guys like Greg Inglis and Michael Crocker.
“I spoke to them about the club and where it was at and it made it an easier transition, I suppose, to come back and build something with people like that.”
Maguire is just nine games into his Broncos coaching career but the presence of Reynolds is a source of comfort. He knows he has a skipper – and chief commander – who can pilot Brisbane to a premiership.
“It was exciting getting to know Adam Reynolds,” he said.
“I didn’t know much about him (when he arrived at Souths).
“He was a young pup coming through and they told me I had this great little half coming through. I wasn’t aware of what he was going to achieve, so all these years on, for me and Reyno to be back together again is great.
“I enjoy these big clubs and brands. Souths and the Broncos are very similar, just with their history of winning and their supporter bases.
“You feel the passion of the fans and the club legends and they take you on the journey. It was a massive community at South Sydney, there was 100 years of history in that club, and I get that same feel at the Broncos.”
Originally published as NRL Knights v Titans, Rabbitohs v Broncos: Live scores, updates, SuperCoach analysis
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