FORMER Souths coach Michael Maguire has responded to reports Brisbane is in “secret talks” with him to take over from Wayne Bennett at Red Hill.
The Courier Mail revealed on Thursday the Broncos have identified Maguire as the man to take over from Bennett, but will allow the 68-year-old to see out his contract through to the end of the 2019 season.
Bennett asked for a one-year extension to take him through to the end of 2020 but that was reportedly denied by club powerbrokers who are in the midst of a power struggle with the seven-time premiership winning coach.
But Maguire, who coached the Rabbitohs to the 2014 premiership, has denied receiving a formal approach from any club about returning to the NRL coaching ranks next season.
Maguire said he had “taken my head out of a lot of the chatter” about the coaching merry-go-round but revealed he was definitely interested in coming back to coach.
“I’m aware that there’s a lot of noise around the coaching but at the moment I have full respect for the coaches who are there and I’m not going to go into too much detail because I don’t have any around the clubs that have obviously been put forward,” Maguire told Macquarie Sports Radio.
“We’ve had no contact so I’m not quite sure where that one has come from. They’re a great club the Broncos and they’re working through some things up there and as I said I’ve got full respect for the coaches that are there so I don’t want to add to anything but no there’s been no contact (from Brisbane).”
Maguire said if he did coach in the NRL again, he would be selective in choosing which club he joined.
“I’ve sat back and learnt a lot from my time at Souths and our time in Wigan and I guess once you’ve been in those positions where you’ve seen a club be extremely successful there’s certain things that need to be in place,” Maguire said. “To be able to go back into a club now with those things I’m keen for and I have seen work to create success, it’s a very important part when you’re picking a club.”
Maguire, who started a new job as the referees’ coach this year, said his role means he is in constant contact with decision makers in clubland and while they’ve sounded out about what his interests are, he reaffirmed no official approaches for his services have been made.
But fuelling speculation Brisbane remains an option, Maguire said moving away from Sydney would not be a problem.
“I do a lot of talk of people in administration and CEOs and people like that so you have conversations where they’re sounding (you) out and wondering what you’re up to,” Maguire said. “So I’ve had conversations like that but other than that it’s just a waiting game now.
“My kids are pretty used to flying about … they’re into me everyday about when I’m going back to coaching so I think they want me out of the house so I think they’re pretty keen for me to get into it wherever it might be.”
