Rugby League Coaching Manuals

Greg Farrimond,LastTackle.com:

The glory days of the late eighties and early nineties are all but forgotten in the Rugby League world as the once dominant Wigan Rugby League Football Club are now wallowing in wilderness.

Enter Michael Maguire.

The 35-year-old has signed a three year deal at the DW Stadium and has been set the almighty task of ending the club's trophy drought, which is now entering it's eighth year.

Noble managed to get to several semi-finals in both the Challenge Cup and Super League play-offs but always managed to fall one hurdle before the final.

Maguire remains confident though. Despite Wigan's constant disappointment, the Australian believes that his new side has the ability to finally bring silverware back to the town and is excited with the challenge ahead.

"I'm very pleased to be here," he declared, as he was finally unveiled to the media.

"I understand the history of the club and how it is so strong so I'm very excited about taking the position."

Maguire has been assistant to Craig Bellamy at NRL outfit Melbourne Storm for the last five years and played his part in the Grand Final victories of 2007 and 2009.

Before joining Melbourne, Maguire had been assistant to Matthew Elliott at Canberra Raiders, the club he had two spells with as a player.

Despite not being in formal charge of a club before, Maguire did take temporary charge at Melbourne when Bellamy was coaching in the State of Origin and in the internationals, an experience which left him itching for a step up.

He added: "I've always wanted to be a head coach, I suppose it wasn't until three years ago that I was ready.

"I've been lucky enough to work with the likes of Craig Bellamy who allowed me to work with the team when he was at the state of origin. In that eight week period he allowed me to coach the team so really gave me the opportunity to develop myself as a head coach and basically run the organisation while he was out.

"Six months ago I was getting itchy feet think I would like to go and do it and become a head coach so it was the right time. The first thing I'm after is a good pre-season and from there we'll see where we go."

The challenge ahead is a tough one for Maguire. He has been backed by chairman Ian Lenagan who has said he will give the new coach time in his job.

But the Wigan supremo lost patience with former coach Noble and rumours began circulating early last season that all was not well between the two.

The youth system at Wigan has come under intense praise in the past and it is that set up which has produced many of the Super League's top stars and Maguire can't wait to work with it's newest product.

"We've got Sam Tomkins here and I'm very excited to help him improve his football," he said.

"He's obviously a very talented kid. He's very young and has a lot of experience to develop but over time I think he can develop into a great of the Rugby League game."

The Aussie wants to bring his own brand of Rugby to Wigan; building a strong, compact team which he believes will bring success.

He continued: "I'm obviously going to bring a lot of different processes and structures into the team which over time will play it's part.

"Whether or not it's short or long term, time will tell. I've only had a week with the boys last week and we haven't been out on the park with the ball yet."

And although he has only just flown over to England, Maguire has done plenty of homework in preparation.

"I spent many a night on the phone talking to different people about the history and the passion of the people over here. I really wanted to come into the place having a fair understanding of how the organisation works. I did a lot of homework so I was aware of what was going on."

Maguire's first game for Wigan is old rivals St Helens on December 27 in a friendly and his first competitive fixture sees the return of former coach Noble to the DW Stadium with his new club Crusaders RL.

Maguire already has one new recruit in the form of Paul Deacon and has admitted it unlikely that any more will follow.

The former Bradford half back will double up as a player and assistant coach in his first year with the Warriors before hanging up his boots at the end of 2010 and taking up his coaching role in a permanent basis.

It is set to be a challenging year for both Maguire and Wigan but if the Australian brings success back to the town, the name barely anybody in England once knew will soon be the one on everybody's lips.