FORMER Warrington Wolves and Salford Red Devils stars have joined ex-Wigan Warriors head coach Michael Maguire in his new coaching role with State of Origin heavyweights New South Wales Blues.
Maguire, who was recently axed as New Zealand head coach despite a record 30-0 win over Australia, has signed a multi-year deal with the Blues with former Salford star John Cartwright, ex-Warrington man Matt King and ex-NRL star Brett White as assistants and Melbourne’s Frank Ponissi as team performance manager.
“Coaching week-to-week in club land to coaching at international level, or Origin, is different,” Maguire said.
“You get players of all ages in club land, and different abilities, whereas when you walk into this arena you have got the best of the best.
“The Kiwis have definitely given me a lot of learnings around working in campaigns, hence the reason why I felt I could probably do both – because they are campaigns.
“We want to win, that is why we do it, and when you have got the best players, you just want to create the environment for those men to go out and do what they are very capable of doing.”
After winning the first two series of State of Origin under Brad Fittler in 2018 and 2019, the Blues have lost three of the last four.
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