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Broncos' mentor Maguire on cusp of NRL coaching royalty
Jasper Bruce & Scott Bailey, AAP • October 3rd, 2025 8:04 am
The Broncos' Michael Maguire has a chance to join an elite group of NRL coaches | Photo: Steve Markham/AAP
Michael Maguire will join an elite group of coaching masters that includes his idols Jack Gibson and Wayne Bennett if he can guide Brisbane to NRL glory.
Excluding captain-coaches in the competition's early years, only five men have coached more than one team to a premiership.
Maguire, who broke South Sydney's 43-year premiership drought in 2014, will become the sixth if his Broncos can overcome perennial heavyweights Melbourne at Accor Stadium on Sunday.
Michael Maguire led the Rabbitohs to a drought-breaking premiership in 2014 | Photo: Paul Miller/AAP
He would join some of rugby league's most storied coaches. Bennett (Brisbane, St George Illawarra), Tim Sheens (Canberra, Wests Tigers), Chris Anderson (Canterbury, Melbourne), Phil Gould (Canterbury, Penrith) and Gibson (Sydney Roosters, Parramatta) are the only men to have achieved the feat.
"They're some very special names," Maguire told AAP.
"To be honest I haven't really thought about that, but I looked up to all those people. As a coach, I've studied and observed what they were able to do.
"To be even thought of (in that category) is quite humbling."
Bennett is the only man to have coached premiership wins at multiple clubs in the NRL era, with Ivan Cleary, Ricky Stuart and Des Hasler all winning at one club and losing a grand final at another.
Maguire began his coaching career as an assistant to another modern heavyweight in Craig Bellamy, against whom he will coach on Sunday.
But the Storm mentor has known of Maguire's storied work ethic and drive far longer, having lured him over from rugby union and into the Raiders' junior system in the early 1990s.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy and the Broncos' Michael Maguire share the same goal | Photo: Steve Markham/AAP
"I've always admired 'Madge'," Bellamy said.
"There's probably a little story there that no one really knows, I was coaching the (under) 21s in Canberra, going back a long, long time ago, and Madge was a union player at school. We got him into the 21s, so I basically coached him there.
"He was always a really good, down-to-earth guy and always, always knew he had to work hard for whatever he wanted.
"That's basically the foundations of his coaching, which I really admire."
Maguire's first run to premiership glory has taught him to savour the build-up to what could be a second.
"I probably learned to really appreciate every day with the players," he said.
"We get to spend a bit of time just at the hotel, laughing and enjoying the build-up to the game. That's something that I really appreciate."
Maguire would join another elite group of coaches by inspiring premiership success in his first season at a new club
Only ex-Newcastle coach Michael Hagan (2001), Ricky Stuart (Roosters, 2002) and Trent Robinson (Roosters, 2013) have done as much in the NRL era.
Maguire would also become the first man to find premiership success at the Broncos in the post-Bennett era.
Four full-time coaches in Ivan Henjak, Anthony Griffin, Anthony Seibold and Kevin Walters have tried in vain to emulate Bennett's success in the years around the super coach's two stints in charge.
Only Walters made it to a grand final, and so cut-throat are the Broncos that he was fired a season later when the club missed finals.
Tune into Sport Nation for live commentary of the NRL Grand Final, thanks to SEN, from 8pm Sunday.
Tune into Sport Nation for live commentary of the NRL Grand Final, thanks to SEN, from 8pm Sunday.
