The Canberra Raiders circa 1994 was a tough team to crack.
A case could be made that a roster containing Ricky Stuart, Laurie Daley, Mal Meninga, Brad Clyde, Ruben Wiki, Brett Mullins, Steve Walters and David Furner is as good as any club side ever assembled. So you can only imagine the satisfaction when Michael Maguire – then a young, injury-prone utility – cracked the team through sheer force of will at the back end of what was to be a premiership-winning season.
Michael Maguire shows his passion again during Brisbane’s stunning come-from-behind win over the Raiders in their qualifying final.Credit: Channel Nine
What happened next may go some way towards explaining the origins of a relentless drive that has spawned dozens of lazy caricatures. No sooner had coach Tim Sheens delivered the selection news when disaster struck.
“I had to come clean with Sheensy,” Maguire recalls. “I actually finally got myself back into the team in ’94 – I had to do everything possible to try and get myself in the team.
“I had a job at ANU, the university there, and was asked to play a social game of soccer.
“So I was a goalie, I just happened to be talking to someone and then as I went to kick the ball, someone came in and basically slid into my ankle and I needed to do a full ankle reconstruction.
“That was at the back end of ’94. So who knows [what could have been]? You don’t know, but that wiped me out. Just when it was a pretty good time for the Green Machine.”
The Raiders, sans Maguire, went on to win the grand final a few short weeks later. Maguire’s contribution that season was a solitary first-grade game. The following year, he added just six to the total. All up – in two stints at the Raiders and a single season for Adelaide during the Super League war – “Madge” managed just 16 NRL games.
Brisbane Broncos coach Michael Maguire.Credit: Zak Simmonds
“Basically my body just fell apart,” Maguire laments.
There were any number of injuries that conspired against him, but the neck issue that prematurely ended his career leaves him in pain to this day. It doesn’t prevent him from hitting the gym at dawn – “that’s what it takes to get the body going” – but the setback left an indelible mark on his psyche.
The effect has shaped the philosophy of the Brisbane coach in a twofold manner. No one is more aware of ensuring the physical welfare of his players, even if it means tough love is required.
“I don’t want them to go through what I feel most days,” Maguire says.
Then there’s the knowledge that a football career is fleeting. An opportunity like the one to play in Sunday’s preliminary finals clash against four-time premiers Penrith at Suncorp Stadium must not be wasted.
“I unfortunately fell out of the game through injury, so I can never have that opportunity again,” Maguire says.
“I guess maybe that is where an obsession comes from. I want a player to make sure that they never have that feeling that I had of falling out and missing out on potentially what could have been.
Michael Maguire and the Blues celebrate a remarkable and rare Origin series deciding win in Brisbane in 2024.Credit: NRL Photos
“If I had half a chance now I’d run out on the field with them. So is that the obsession that drives me? I guess that is probably some of it, because I finished at the age of 22.
“I thought I was going to be playing forever, like most young men. So making sure that a player now doesn’t miss that opportunity, that’s a real driver for me.”
“Military Madge”. Spew buckets at the ready. Critics have lampooned Maguire for supposedly pushing his players to breaking point. They conveniently forget that, save for Wests Tigers – a club where only Sheens, briefly, has ever enjoyed success – Maguire has always been a winner with the clipboard. Whether it be at Wigan, South Sydney, the New Zealand national team or NSW in last year’s State of Origin series, the 51-year-old gets the job done.
“You ask me, what drives you? I don’t want anyone else to have that same feeling of missing out,” Maguire says.
“I guess that’s why I’m pretty full-on about making sure they train to certain levels, that there’s an expectation about how they go about things.
“Because your body’s everything you’ve got as a sportsman, that body needs to be in its best shape it can be for as long as possible, hence the reasons why I do laugh when I hear that [overtraining] chatter, because you can’t get to the levels of success if you don’t actually have the body in great shape.”
Michael Maguire in action for the Raiders in 1998.
This has been the driving force for Maguire since his own playing career finished prematurely. Post-life footy began as a PE teacher, before he transitioned into strength and conditioning work. Then former Raiders teammate Meninga suggested he give the coaching caper a go.
That prompted Maguire to go on several worldwide expeditions – “I threw the backpack on and went overseas” – to witness first-hand the best practice models of the biggest sporting franchises in the world. Whether at NFL, EPL or NBA clubs, the premiership-winning mentor would seek the 1 per cent difference that separates the great from the good.
When he was an assistant to Craig Bellamy at Melbourne, he was able to pick the brains of the top coaches in the AFL for four years.
When he took Wigan to the 2010 Super League grand final against Wigan, he arranged for legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson to deliver a pre-game address.
“Early on, he nearly lost his job,” Maguire says. “But the alignment of Man United was the reason why he was so great. That’s what I probably could take away from him is that it was an organisation. It was a machine. I look to things like that and aspire to try and do it here.
“I’ve tried to do that anywhere I’ve gone. It takes you on a bit of a journey, but that’s what I want to try and create with the Broncos.”
Broncos captain Adam Reynolds and coach Michael Maguire speak to the media after a loss to the Roosters in round six.Credit: NRL Photos
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing. There have been periods where he has felt pushback from his charges, most notably during a four-game losing streak. But he has stayed the course, true to his beliefs, even while being lampooned by his critics.
“I know I’m different,” Maguire says. “And it doesn’t worry me. I also share with my players what I’ve seen succeed in the past. And we will be different to the last place of success, because everyone is different.
“I reckon we probably went through a period where there were thoughts about, ‘Oh, is this adjustment that we’ve had the right one for us?’
“I’m seeing now, the way they’re going about it, they’re leading to the levels that I want them to.”
The comment about Maguire being “different” resonates. When asked how so, there is a pause as he considers how to respond.
“Yeah, righto,” he says finally. “I’m full on. I live and breathe it every day.
“That’s basically where you find success. Any top business person who I’ve met over time, they’ve got an obsession about succeeding and getting an individual to a higher level.
“Some people understand that, sometimes it takes a little bit of time to get an understanding and some people don’t.
“But one thing I know is that once they get aligned, they’ll find the successes they’re chasing.”
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The excitement surrounding the Broncos this year is palpable. It is a club that demands success but, for all of its resources and natural advantages, it has proved elusive. It has been 19 years since the biggest club in the league won a premiership, but Maguire is undaunted.
“I love the fact that it’s got expectation. The more expectation, the better,” Maguire says, before adding finishing with one of his favourite phrases.
“We haven’t done anything yet.”
That may soon be about to change. Maguire knows that every chance that you get should be treated as if it’s your last, because it may well be.
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