Wests Tigers not focusing on lowly ladder position, says Michael Maguire

The Wests Tigers are in the midst of their worst start to an NRL season but coach Michael Maguire isn’t worried about their on field results.

Maguire isn't focused on the on-field results. Image: Getty

Michael Maguire insists the Wests Tigers are focused on working hard at training not on snapping the losing streak that has kept them at the bottom of the NRL ladder.

The Tigers have slumped to their worst start to a season as a joint venture club and are the only side yet to win a game after five rounds.

They meet the in-form Parramatta Eels on Easter Monday for a chance to open their account.

Lose that game and history is stacked firmly against the Tigers; no side has ever come back from a 0-6 start and played finals in the NRL era.

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But Maguire said the Tigers were concerning themselves less with their ladder position and more with getting things right on the training paddock and around the club.

“Everyone looks at where we are at the moment and look, we’re at the start of the season,” the Tigers’ coach said.

“We all would like to have had a number of wins on the board but what we see internally is the most important part and that’s everyone in the organisation with their heads down, focusing on what we need to achieve and that’s right through from first grade all the way down.

“We want the results like everyone else and they will come because of what they’re doing and I know that off the back of various experiences.”

Maguire coached the South Sydney Rabbitohs to the 2014 premiership before joining the Tigers in 2019 (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

After last week’s loss, co-captain James Tamou said he saw parallels between the Tigers’ current predicament and that of the Penrith Panthers during his time at the club.

While contracted with the side between 2017 and 2020, Tamou saw the Panthers transform from journeymen to grand finalists. Maguire said Tamou’s insights were valuable.

“Jimmy just reminds everyone what it takes to build up a club,” said Maguire.

“It doesn’t happen overnight but the key things that everyone’s doing every day are what make clubs tick, the values of how we live.

“There’s a lot of good things around what they’re doing on the training park and if they persist with that, then you progress to where the teams up the top of the ladder are. That’s how it works. Those are the things that we all understand.”

Hastings is back. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

Crucially, the Tigers welcome Jackson Hastings back from suspension for their Easter Monday clash.

A recipient of the Man of Steel award as the Super League’s best player, Hastings will slot into the halfback jersey and push Luke Brooks to five-eighth.

The Tigers are hoping the switch allows Hastings to call the shots in attack and helps Brooks’ running game to flourish.

“I really think he’s a talent,” Maguire said of Hastings.

“He’s played in big games, he’s been around for a while now.

“I think he’ll bring that confidence to the team and I’m sure the team will get behind him.”

Originally published as Wests Tigers not focusing on lowly ladder position, says Michael Maguire