THE BOSS Maguire Stomped The Naysayers! But...8 Months Later, Here We Are.

Skathen said:
It's long been said our club has a major attitude problem.

One of the reasons why some other clubs absolutely hate us and there's definitely an element of truth to it.

Club's players lived on past glories for a good almost couple of decades.

We finally get some steel put into our players, giving them a taste of what's required to win the comp and immediately after winning, we're back at "our shit doesn't stink".

The club also lacks the ruthless intent needed to really shape what we want to be as a club. I can't see Melbourne or Panthers letting these grandad's army players keep rolling on past their used by dates. Heck, just look at who the Panthers have let go of and are telling to go to market this year (Leota for e.g.)

The real shame is this year was the year to really cement the club as being "back". Draw players to the club, getting paid maybe slight unders to join a successful club. But now - premiership window looks dead and buried - we've lost any chance of that.
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We can still attract players, its just that we don't seem to be overly proactive about it and we are definitely too soft on underperforming guys. We aren't ruthless and that is where it is problematic. Barnett and Pezet were both highly sought after and we got them both.

Reynolds definitely should have been told to pull the pin last year and it was obvious that was the case in season last year.

Bunt needed to be tapped on the shoulder this year but hasn't been and instead has been re-signed. Is Maguire going to drop him from the squad all together next year if he regresses even further? I don't think so.

But we also leave guys who should be priority signings until late in the year and the further it gets to November 1, the more you start to worry.

Currently, most of our very best players are gettable in about 12 weeks' time - Willison, Mariner, Jiki and Piakura are all free agents very, very soon. Even some very good players in Karapani and Mozer as well. If we lose any of them but especially the first two - we are in all sorts.
 
BroncsFan said:
Jeez look at that list of candidates... how has Madge still got a job with the list of names there.

Who would want a multi-premiership winning coach when you could bring in someone prestigious like Darius Boyd and his 3 weeks experience coaching the Qld U19's
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I think that's the point of the article, he lists those candidates then gets to the end and says obviously Cleary is the answer. He was setting up the punchline from the start.
 
Sproj said:
Barnett and Pezet were both highly sought after and we got them both.

Currently, most of our very best players are gettable in about 12 weeks' time - Willison, Mariner, Jiki and Piakura are all free agents very, very soon. Even some very good players in Karapani and Mozer as well. If we lose any of them but especially the first two - we are in all sorts.
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Barnett is a strange one for me. While technically an origin forward, he looked outclassed in origin so far. Zero impact with the ball, defended decently. He did agree to terms after the grand final win before everything went south.

Pezet - fresh signing off the grand final.

Those names we stand to lose - if those players are staring down the barrel of a spoon (now that the dragons have shown they can actually win a game and we're on 8 straight losses). That's got to hurt retention efforts. At the very least, we're going to have to dig deeper to retain them. Why we didn't immediately lock down Willison and Mariner after the grand final for another 3 years is beyond me.

I'm conflicted on Piakura, especially if we got another hard worker in his place. On his day he's elite, but he's just so injury prone and keeps making bonehead errors.
 
1910 said:
I think that's the point of the article, he lists those candidates then gets to the end and says obviously Cleary is the answer. He was setting up the punchline from the start.
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Cleary - whom has already declared once he's done at the Panthers will hang it up and isn't interested in coaching in the NRL again. Sounds totally believable.
 
Skathen said:
Cleary - whom has already declared once he's done at the Panthers will hang it up and isn't interested in coaching in the NRL again. Sounds totally believable.
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He also said he'd love to coach the Tigers. He might change his mind in 2028 about coaching again.
 
Foordy said:
Madge would have to be coach for 4 years, missing the finals 3 times for it to be remotely similar to Kevvie's time in charge (granted Madge isn't coming from as far back as Kevvie) ... And even in that situation, Madge still comes out in front because he has that ring that Kevvie never got (as a coach)
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But it is very hard to argue that Maguire didn't win it with Kevvie's squad. Credit where its due to Maguire - he got Shibasaki to play one of the greatest unexpected seasons in history but still. The rest of the squad was pretty much Kevvie's.
 
Sproj said:
That said, I'm giving Maguire 2026 as a mulligan because the injuries, like 2024, have completely derailed the season, that isn't his fault.
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List of games missed for the Top 17 or so players... percentage is their availability over the season to date.

Surprised that Haas is 3rd and has missed 7 games already.

Grant Anderson - 10 (37.5%)
Corey Jensen - 9 (43.75%)
Payne Haas - 7 (56.25%)
Deine Mariner - 6 (62.5%)
Patrick Carrigan - 6 (62.5%)
Reece Walsh - 5 (68.75%)
Adam Reynolds - 5 (68.75%)
Brendan Piakura - 5 (68.75%)
Gehamat Shibasaki - 4 (75%)
Ben Hunt - 4 (75%)
Kotoni Staggs - 3 (81.25%)
Josiah Karapani - 2 (87.5%)
Ezra Mam - 2 (87.5%)
Jordan Riki - 2 (87.5%)
Cory Paix - 1 (93.75%)
Ben Talty - 0 (100%)
Xavier Willison - 0 (100%)

The flip side of that is games played by the depth guys... below is games played by the other 15 guys so far this year and % is games they've played to date.

Jesse Arthars - 10 (62.5%)
Jack Gosiewski - 10 (62.5%)
Preston Riki - 8 (50%)
Tom Duffy - 7 (43.75%)
VJ Semu - 7 (43.75%)
Aublix Tawha - 6 (37.5%)
Hayze Perham - 4 (25%)
Josh Rogers - 4 (25%)
Jaiyden Hunt - 3 (18.75%)
Blake Mozer - 3 (18.75%)
Antonio Verhoeven - 3 (18.75%)
Cameron Bukowski - 1 (6.25%)
Phillip Coates - 1 (6.25%)
Luke Gale - 1 (6.25%)
Josh Coric - 1 (6.25%)
 
So we've cracked 32 players for season so far, 7 of which (if I am looking at it correctly) made their NRL debut, and people (both here and in the media) are looking at the coach as a decisive factor in our current situation? That really is some kind of a joke, we've not only had one of our worst ever seasons injury-wise, but one of the worst seasons of any club for the last ~40 years.

The argument for next-man-up is only applicable if it's one or two players or only for a week or two at most. A high player count over the majority of the season is just not something that can be overcome. Otherwise get rid of the salary cap, if you should be able to just bring in a high number of depth players and have them play a full season at the same standard as a marquee player, why aren't teams successfully doing that?

For the record, I had the same opinion of Kev in 2024.

PS, the "coach has lost the playing group" is absolutely ridiculous. Besides a few games where it was clear the players were spent (eg, Titans & Dragons) they've had a solid dig. I've been satisfied with the last few losses as we put ourselves in winning positions when we had no right to. Last game I can't even be too critical of Hunt, we got ourselves on their line and had the right plays going and the defence on the ropes, but were let down by poor execution which is completely understandable when the players you're trying to combine with are different to the ones last week, and the week before, and the week before that.
 
Sproj said:
But it is very hard to argue that Maguire didn't win it with Kevvie's squad. Credit where its due to Maguire - he got Shibasaki to play one of the greatest unexpected seasons in history but still. The rest of the squad was pretty much Kevvie's.
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So it's Simon Scanlan's premiership then? Congrats Simon!

Jokes aside I am not following your logic, if it is the same basic side (apart from one guy who's career has been a joke which Madge somehow managed to squeeze 9 months of magic out of) doesn't that make it even less Kevvie's premiership? Like it's the same side but Madge could actually get them to win a premiership when Kevvie couldn't? Gordon, have you taken over @Sproj's account? Please tell me you haven't hurt him.
 
broncos4life said:
So it's Simon Scanlan's premiership then? Congrats Simon!

Jokes aside I am not following your logic, if it is the same basic side (apart from one guy who's career has been a joke which Madge somehow managed to squeeze 9 months of magic out of) doesn't that make it even less Kevvie's premiership? Like it's the same side but Madge could actually get them to win a premiership when Kevvie couldn't? Gordon, have you taken over @Sproj's account? Please tell me you haven't hurt him.
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Here's the thing, I am NOT bagging out Maguire. I'm simply responding to the same rubbish criticism that gets bought up about Kevvie. I'm just trying to give Kevvie the credit he is due.

I don't think the logic is that hard to follow if you take away the lens of me having a go at Maguire, because I'm not. I've defended him in this very thread, in the last couple of pages even.

Who do you feel was a Maguire inspiration outside of Shibasaki last year?

I can help get you started - you could definitely argue Karapani (but was already here under Kevvie). You could definitely argue Smoothy and I would for sure be ok with that. Bunt?

So let's have a look at it:
1. Walsh (Kevvie)
2. Karapani (Kevvie but I'll give you Maguire)
3. Staggs (Kevvie)
4. Shibasaki (Maguire - MASSIVE tick)
5. Mariner (Kevvie)
6. Bunt (Maguire)
7. Reynolds (Kevvie)
8. Jensen (Kevvie)
9. Paix (Kevvie - you could argue Maguire but not sure that's a win)
10. Haas (Kevvie)
11. Piakura (Kevvie)
12. Jiki (Kevvie)
13. Carrigan (Kevvie)

14. Mam (Kevvie)
15. Hetherington (Kevvie)
16. Willison (Kevvie)
17. Smoothy (Kevvie but with Maguire - I'll definitely allow this one)

18. Difference (Kevvie)
19. Arthars (Kevvie)
20. Baker (Kevvie - oof)
21. Black (Kevvie)
22. Cobbo (Kevvie)
23. Gosiewski (Kevvie - oof)
24. Hoeter (Kevvie)
25. Junt (Kevvie)
26. Leota (Kevvie)
27. Te Kura (Kevvie)
28. Mozer (Kevvie)
29. Madden (Kevvie)
30. Rogers (Kevvie)

31. Semu (Kevvie)
32. Bukowski (Kevvie)
33. Perham (Maguire)
34. Talty (Maguire)
35. Bryce (Kevvie)

So 31 out of 35 players at WORST were inherited by Maguire.
 
I think a good chunk of the above 'argument' is null and void as just because a former coach brought someone in, doesn't mean the new coach didn't elevate their game, no?

Can't give Kevvie credit for the form Walsh hit in the finals run last year. If your argument is you can't give Madge credit for that either, then sure. But to look at it like Kevvie is due respect/kudos for 2025 Walsh is a bit silly. (imo)
 
It’s a bit different to “we WILL make finals” @Sproj

Replying to this post sorry.

“Hasn't he basically done that by saying finals aren't out of the question?”
 
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