NRL 2021: Wests Tigers close to making call on Michael Maguire’s coaching future
Wests Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis insists the club won’t rush through a decision on Michael Maguire’s future as the coach continues to plan for next season.
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Wests Tigers held a board meeting on Tuesday to digest the review into Michael Maguire’s future.
It is the first time the board has come together since the review was completed earlier this week.
Officials remain tight-lipped regarding Maguire’s future, although the under-fire coach maintains strong support from some on the board.
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A decision could happen as early as this week. Maguire is believed to be going about his business as if he will remain coach next season.
The club has put-off recruitment and retention discussions amid talk they are interested in signing either Adam Elliott or Tariq Sims. Maguire made a final pitch to the board last week.
The Tigers have been linked to a move with Penrith assistant coach Cameron Ciraldo. If they want to pursue Ciraldo they would have to wait until the end of Penrith’s season, which could happen as early as this weekend.
Ciraldo would form part of a coaching dream team with Tigers premiership hero Tim Sheens. Sheens has taken part in the review.
The likes of Englishmen Shaun Wane and Steve McNamara plus St Helens premiership coach Kristian Woolf have been mentioned as potential candidates should the club sack Maguire.
Wests Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis said the club was in no rush to make a decision.
“The review continues, the club is just going to take as much time as it needs to finalise the process,” Hagipantelis said on Breakfast with Vossy on 1170 SEN.
“As I said last week, it’s no different to the review that was undertaken last year. I appreciate the amount of media and community interest.
“The club is a big brand, it’s enormously popular with 400,000 people that identify themselves as fans of the club so we have an enormous obligation to undertake such a review and to make sure the club looks very closely at itself.
“The club will just simply take as much time as it needs to get through the process.”
Meanwhile, a leading businessman has lifted the lid on his dealings with Wests Tigers management claiming the current review is “like a jail warden going to interview the prisoners and to give the jail a performance rating”.
Passionate Wests Tigers fan Adrian Tripodina, a Pacific Blue director, spoke on the Wests Life Podcast. He claimed that during a meeting with Justin Pascoe several years ago that the Tigers boss said veteran fullback Michael Gordon would make for a cheaper replacement for the outgoing James Tedesco.
Maguire makes last-ditch pitch to save job
Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire retains strong support from elements of the club’s board as his future is expected to be decided by the end of this week.
Maguire’s future at the Wests Tigers is clearly at the crossroads. It comes as Maguire made one last pitch to the Tigers board last week, where he urged them to have faith in the direction he was taking the club.
Even still his position is delicately poised but it is understood some members of the board want to see Maguire remain at the helm. Whether that will be enough to save his job will be determined at a board meeting this week.
The Tigers board were awaiting a final report and recommendation from the club’s post-season review. Different parts of the review were undertaken by Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis, chief executive Justin Pascoe, head of football Adam Hartigan, new head of performance Tim Sheens and board member Danny Stapleton.
Sheens’ view will hold great sway given he has been the only Tigers coach to lead the joint-venture to success. There is a belief among high-profile figures at that club that getting Sheens closer to the team next year could assist with the on-field performance.
While the departures of highly-paid players Moses Mbye and Russell Packer will help end some of the expectations placed on underperforming shoulders.
Several high-profile players have made it known they want Maguire to see out the remaining two years of his deal.
The club still has about $1 million left to spend on its roster for next season.
Sheens to audition UK candidates
Tim Sheens’ quarantine nightmare may yet turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the Wests Tigers given two of the prime candidates to replace Michael Maguire are based in England – St Helens coach Kristian Woolf and England boss Shaun Wane.
While Penrith assistant Cameron Ciraldo is regarded as the frontrunner to replace Maguire should he be shown the door by the Tigers, Woolf and Wane are both believed to be interested in the role.
Woolf has been outstanding since joining St Helens, leading the club to a grand final win last year and the Challenge Cup earlier this year. He has also helped turn Tonga into an international force and his relationship with his players has meant the likes of Jason Taumalolo pledging their future to the island nation rather than New Zealand.
Wane, the current England coach and winner of three Super League titles when in charge of Wigan, has a longstanding interest in coaching in the NRL and would no doubt be keen to take over at the Tigers.
Sheens, who will play a significant role in the selection of a new coach, has access to both men given he is still in England and unlikely to fly to Australia until the end of next month.
The premiership winner and former Tigers coach shapes as one of the more enticing reasons for any coach to join the Tigers given his knowledge and standing in the game.
The Tigers are viewed as an undesirable destination but they actually have plenty of selling points for a new coach. It starts with Sheens, who shapes as the ideal mentor for the likes of Ciraldo and Woolf, both of whom would be NRL head coaches for the first time.
The Tigers also have plenty of room under their salary cap for next season, giving an incoming coach the chance to shape his roster. The club has frozen activity in the transfer market while they await some clarity on Maguire’s future, but are expected to monitor the movements of the likes of Tariq Sims and Curtis Scott from afar.
Sims is already on the radar of Tigers officials while Scott has been mentioned as a potential recruit after being sacked by Canberra. Bulldogs forward Adam Elliott is also likely to feature in discussions after he parted ways with Canterbury.
A new coach, if there is to be one, will want to play a role in filling the remaining four spots on the roster. Hence, the relative sense of urgency around a decision over Maguire.
The Tigers are in the process of completing a review into their turgid end to the season, which is expected to be presented to the club’s board of directors as early as next week.
Maguire’s position is hanging by the barest of threads after another disappointing season culminated in the club finishing in 13th place with one of the worst defensive records of any side in the competition.
The club’s senior leaders are expected to play a major role in determining Maguire’s fate as part of the review into the football department, which is being carried out by general manager of football Adam Hartigan and chief executive Justin Pascoe.
The Tigers have been criticised for conducting an internal review using two of the key figures who many believe should be under scrutiny themselves. However, it is understood both men will have their roles in the season analysed as the Tigers look for answers to their current malaise.
Tigers players could decide Maguire’s fate
The senior players at the Wests Tigers are set to play a significant role in the future of Michael Maguire after it emerged that their views would form a major chunk of a review into the club’s football operations.
Tigers officials confirmed that rather consult the entire playing group, the review focused on the thoughts of the club’s leaders. Their views could ultimately decide whether Maguire is given the opportunity to see out the final two years of his contract.
While Tigers officials insist the review will not be fast-tracked in the wake of their disappointing end to the season, they acknowledge there is a sense of urgency around the coaching position.
Maguire appears to be fighting a lost cause and the uncertainty over his future has prompted some to suggest that Penrith assistant Cameron Ciraldo is the preferred choice to take over.
Ciraldo has been the brains behind Penrith’s defensive structures in recent seasons, an area of the game where the Tigers have been found wanting. This year alone they conceded 714 points – only North Queensland was worse.
Ciraldo has another year on his deal with Penrith but Panthers officials insist they will not stand in his way if he is offered the opportunity to take over from Maguire.
“Our preference would be for him to stay at Penrith,” Panthers chair Dave O’Neill said.
“It’s up to Cirro. He knows that at any time he can pick up the phone to me or Fletch (chief executive Brian Fletcher) and say I need to have a discussion. We have a pretty good understanding.”
Sources close to Ciraldo suggest he would be unlikely to consider the Tigers job while Penrith’s season is still underway. However, he is widely considered the next coach-in-waiting and looks ready-made to take on a head coaching job.
Of the other candidates, the most prominent are premiership winners Shane Flanagan and Paul Green, and St Helens coach Kristian Woolf. South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett would be the No. 1 contender but is intent on returning to Queensland, where he is expected to link with one of the expansion teams should the NRL decide to add a 17th team.
Whoever takes over, should the Tigers go down that path, will be armed with a $1.6 million war chest heading into next season. The Tigers have four spots remaining on their roster and nearly 20 per cent of their cap still to spend, leaving an incoming coach with the capacity to strengthen the squad with some high-profile targets.
Tigers chair Lee Hagipantelis will play a central role in the coaching decision and on Monday he hit out at suggestions his friendship with Justin Pascoe impaired his judgment when it came to the club’s chief executive.
Hagipantelis insisted he would have no qualms recommending Pascoe be sacked if he was convinced that it would turn around their fortunes on the field.
Pascoe’s role in the organisation has come under fire from unhappy Tigers supporters, who believe the chief executive should be held to account for the way the side has performed during his tenure.
Pascoe has been at helm of the Tigers for six years this month. In that time, the club has failed to qualify for the finals. At the same time, their balance sheet has improved significantly and Pascoe played a role in securing funding for a Centre of Excellence, which is scheduled to be completed later this year.
Hagipantelis insisted the responsibility for on-field performance rested largely with the football department and he would stand down himself if he was provided with any evidence that suggested the people in the club’s senior administrative positions were hampering their progress.
“The administration of the organisation itself is always under review,” Hagipantelis said.
“You have a continual review process each and every month when we have a board meeting. I understand winning starts in the front office — I understand that sentiment — but if I felt that my resignation as chair would assist on-field performance in some way, I would resign today.
“If I believed Pascoe’s termination would assist on-field performance, I would recommend his termination to the board.
“The issue we have to address and the issue I identify — with my limited expertise in football matters, I acknowledge that — is that the issue concerns on-field performance.
“We are a club that has provided almost unlimited resources and investment in the football department and the results don’t reflect that.
“I understand people are looking at the front office and I get that. They are perfectly entitled to do that.
“But I would need to be convinced by someone how the front office, how decisions in the front office, have resulted in a lack of on-field performance when at the end of the day you have a vigorous process of recruitment and retention involving the coach, the coaching staff, the general manager of football, which is all supported by the board and the club.
“There is a disconnect that exists at the moment and that is what has to be addressed. Off-field, the club is in a very healthy position and has made a very significant investment in that football department, but we haven’t got the results.
“That is the challenge.”
Hagipantelis insisted his judgment was not impacted by his friendship with Pascoe.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I see Justin as primarily responsible for the administration of the club – finances, investment, the centre of excellence, all of these things.
“Then you have a separate football department, which of course he oversees as part of his role. But again, Justin doesn’t have that level of expertise in football matters in terms of identifying talent or devising coaching manuals.
“That is why you employ experts in that field. That is the point. People have to be responsible for their divisions. The CEO oversees the entire organisation, I get that.
“But I would need to be convinced how his role impacts on on-field performance. That is a football department issue. That is where the focus of our attention is at the moment.”
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