After his NSW players had landed in Melbourne on Sunday in an attempt to save the State of Origin series,Maguire accosted his halves,Mitchell Moses and Jarome Luai,and started talking tactics as the luggage lagged.
The Maroons fullback was placed under scrutiny after he was found out of position when Mitchell Moses set up Brian To'o.
He held up two fingers,mimicking Queensland defenders,and started talking about how NSW would break down Billy Slater’s defence.
Moses,in particular,carried a curious look,albeit listening to the sermon.
Do we have to discuss this now?
Maybe it’s not a surprise then with his NSW side running roughshod over the Maroons on a magical Melbourne night,Maguire embarked on a walk usually reserved for a coach six goals up in the dying minutes of an AFL grand final.
Blues coach Michael Maguire talks to Jarome Luai and Mitchell Moses at half-time of Origin II after rushing to the sideline.Getty Images
With his team blasting Queensland off the park,Maguire slipped out of the NSW coaching box and made the trek to the sideline on Wednesday night. It’s not a short walk given the expanse of the MCG. There were still a handful of minutes left in the first half.
As he finally got there,Zac Lomax dived over for his second try of the night and the Blues’ sixth. His players celebrated,then turned around and appeared stunned to see Maguire there. Maguire is no Ricky Stuart or Brad Fittler,coaches who haven’t been averse to watching the game from the sideline.
But when the going’s so good,why not get as close as you can?
“When the players were performing the way they were,it’s a good feeling,” Maguire said. “That’s part of the reason I went down. I wanted to sense what it was like down there and have a chat at half-time. I wanted to get a feel for what they were feeling out on the field,and I was able to talk to the players on the way in.
“We probably didn’t hit the mark with some of the things we did[in the second half]. But to be able to feel what the players were thinking,it was really handy as a coach.”
As soon as the half-time siren had gone,Maguire had already cornered a number of players before they went up the tunnel. He made sure,again,to spend time with Moses and Luai,despite the pair leading one of the most dominant halves in Origin history.
Moses kicked for a spectacular leaping try from Lomax,a precursor to what might be a weekly occurrence for the Eels in the future.
“It’s very exciting for next year,” Moses said. “Geez,he’s a good player. He puts the team first and that’s why he’s in the team. He gets through a lot of work and puts the team first. He’s a very unselfish player and he can come up with plays like that. You’ve just got to give him a bit of space.”
Maguire will also give a little bit of space to his players for the next few days before plotting what few NSW coaches have done before:winning a decider at Suncorp Stadium. It’s a mission thought almost impossible after the calamity of 12 men surrendering game one in Sydney.
If he heads to the sideline in Brisbane early again,taunting more than 50,000 rabid Queenslanders,then you know things must really be going well.
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