Exactly. It's not just a matter of a better paid job coming along or whatever clubs sign coaches with a plan in mind to achieve long term success. That is certainly why he was signed and as you say recruitment will have been based on what he wants so to get the players signed and the team he wants in place then leave is where the problem lies if this is what happens.



Well if he can get out of it after so short a time it wasn't a very well drafted one!

I think the most important thing for you Wiganers to remember is that, even if he leaves, MM has reminded you of what high standards a big club can/should expect from their team, something that your previous half dozen coaches, Noble included, have failed to do.

Those high standards will permutate through the club and will last after he's gone. If the next coach builds on that, you'll carry on as a top force in the league.

If he is leaving to take up a top job in the NRL as is rumoured it would be naive to think there is anything more too it than that.

All this speculation must be very disruptive to the team/coaching staff, which might explain our indifferent form for the last three weeks as it coincides with when the rumours began. This issue needs addressing officially by the club so that we can draw a line under it & focus on retaining our Super League title and winning the Challenge Cup. The longer this drags on, the more disruptive it becomes.

I doubt it was a two + one year contract. Sporting contracts have all manner of clauses that rightly are private, e.g. footballers being allowed to leave if an offer for £Xm comes in etc. Looks like Madge had a clause re a NRL club coming in for him, that he may not have come in the first place had we not agreed.

Very well said

I see no reason why McGuire won't see out the remainder of this year, even if the players know he is going at the end of the year. The presence of Wane should ensure that he doesn't 'lose the dressing room', as players will want to stay in his plans for the following year.

Hopefully McGuire can continue to teach Wane everything he knows for the rest of the year.

In which case it was a risk that may well have backfired and a poor bit of negotiation from IL given Madge was an assistant coach not an established top NRL coach. He ought not to have been in a position to make such demands given he had no reputation as a first grade coach.

I am sure we were all expecting Madge to build on last seasons success and set things in place for the longer term. One and a bit seasons is not enough for that IMO. If as looks likely he leaves I think both Madge for going and IL and the club for allowing this to happen have let the fans down big time.

Dave, you're being quite judgemental there, and yet have no real basis for it.

We're all in agreement that this is a problem and needs to be sorted one way or the other. But I don't think you should let frustation and disappointment cloud reality.

The argument that Maguire may not have come at all without special opt-out clauses needs to be taken seriously. This is all speculation at present, but you can't simply dismiss the possibility that Maguire didn't want to come over here and needed a deal weighed heavily in his favour. Regardless of whether he was a head coach or an assistant - he clearly is (and was) one of the brightest coaching talents in the game. He was highly recommended to us by Bennett and Bellamy. Russell Crowe hasn't swooped for him purely because he was successful with Wigan. It may well be the case that we did very well indeed to get this guy for any period of time.

It's a big thing to move to a backwater like Britain, where you'll be subject to Kear and Agar type jealousy, and will have chairmen and even journalists tacitly agreeing with them, especially if you've got a young family who you want to grow up the Aussie way. And if you're a top talent on top of that, I'd imagine that it's even more difficult. I seem to remember that IL described lengthy negotiations with Maguire. Maybe he had no choice but to give away more than he wanted, when the alternative was keeping Nobby for another couple of years.

And it's far too early to say IL and MM have let the fans down. In fact it's very churlish. For Heavne's sake, they won us our first Grand Final since 1998!

We gave him his break in rugby league management , we offered him a chance to make a name for himself which he has, to walk out after 16 months is very disappointing. A total shock. IL should offer him double what souths offer tbh, i dont think Wane would make much of a head coach yet, hopefully im wrong though.

Well Warrington Fans Are all over it now on there board !!

I wouldn't say it's panic. The bigger issue here is the rampant speculation from all parts of the media. It has to be distracting to the players if every time they open a newspaper or view anything RL-related online and they see an article saying that the coach at their club is leaving. That's my biggest concern, especially seeing as all these rumours starting has coincided with our recent dip in form

Given Maguire's reputation in Oz before he came and has been proved last season it was a risk worth taking. To trigger the clause he was always going to have to do well (so it was still going to be in Wigan's interests to agree), he just did much better than anyone could have hoped in the first year. Yes it's disappointing but it looks like he'll be here for two years to help hand over the reins to Wane who deserves his chance.

It was obvious he was using Wigan as a stepping stone to get a NRL job, and it looks like he's got a high profile "project" to make his mark. He's ambitious and I'm not going to criticise him for that as I'd have done exactly the same in his position.

Get Real - He has made a bigger pedestal for himself and will return to Aus at the end of his contract - either due to an release clause at the end of this year, or at the end of the 3 year period.

Where is the point in him leaving half way through a season when the Souths coach is not due to go until the end of the season.

As for double his money - Why, an incentive maybe both for him and the team, but to leave as a Double grand Final Winner will raise his stock even higher then he could name his price?

www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sp ... 6038143646 www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... 1dcp8.html I know IL doesn't comment on rumours but i think its time to talk

www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sp ... 6038143646 www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... 1dcp8.html I know IL doesn't comment on rumours but i think its time to talk

The intricacies of his contract with the club should not put us in a position were he can walk out 2/3 the way through the agreement. I dont buy the point about us not being able to lure him to come here unless we offered him a range of get out clauses...that is not the sort of contract we should be offering our head coach.

IL appointed him, then let him have the cheque book to go out and shape the team - why would he do that if he was running the risk that madge could up sticks at a moments notice?

I for one will be gutted if he leaves the club. Its typical of our luck...just as we've got things moving in the right direction it all starts to go a bit Pete Tongue!

As unpopular as it may be...I dont believe Shaun Wane is ready for this job yet. Whilst I dont doubt his motivational skills and the aggression he brings to the team...I worry about the tactical side of things.

First link - FROM NEXT YEAR

So lets send him out with a bang -Double Grand Final Winners

This is a bad day for the club i think fair enough he was gonna go back sometime but after a few years is abit sh*t on us i was sick of how lenegan handled the gleeson incident as so were the players ive been told. If nothing is said in a few days i think lenegan wants a bollocking for putting his head in the sand also were is our fans forum he promised every year i think it would be very interesting night if it was soon.

And how would you have handled the Gleeson incident?

Dont about with like we have done i think it has disrupted the team alot agar didnt take aslong gettin rid of tansey did he

Yep, there's a solution to a complex, legally binding contract termination.

"Don't mickey about with it."

I wonder why IL and the other Wigan directors never thought of that?

Mind you, it comes to something when we've got a Wigan fan actually looking to Richard Agar for inspiration. Talk about a short bloody memory.

He did not have a reputation as a first grade coach. He was an assistant who was looking for his first 1st grade job so to paint him as someone with a big rep who was in a position to make the demands you might expect of Bennett himself is overstating his standing in the game by quite a bit.



I doubt there was a clause that said "if Wigan win a title I can leave if I get an offer" but if there was that would be mind numbingly stupid put such a clause in. Rather if there was a clause it would more likely simply be an NRL club making an offer but however the clause was phrased, it would not matter unless Madge had decided to leave a mere 16 months into his deal.



We are supposed not to want a rapid turnover in coaches but we will get it if we accept contracts or formulate contracts that can be so easily walked away from. His ambitions would be served quite well enough by staying here and looking to the NRL at the end of his deal as its inevitable a position will arise. He might even gain some kudos by seeing his deal out here first.

I think we all accepted it was most likely to be just the three years and that was fair enough but ambitious or not I don't think its good enough to walk out of contracts so quickly and cause the inevitable disruption to plans. I don't care what his ambitions are but how what he does affects Wigan and Wigan ought not to be in the position of offering such weak contracts there is a risk that they can be terminated early all because we got success a bit sooner than expected.

I always thought Maguire was here on a 2 year contract anyway. I only discovered when news broke over his departure that he was on a 3 year deal. I hoped when we got him that within his 2 years he'd get the club back challenging for honours and seeing as we won the league in his first year I'd say job done. Maybe a get out clause in the contract was put there in Wigan's interest too should it have turned out that he was bobbins.

I think it's important to stay on topic here. There is a reality to be faced here IMO and that is that MM simply will not be able to fully focus all of his attention on Wigan. One of the stories from Aus named Souths players coming OOC after this season - surely Madge isn't going to ignore this? He will be talking to Souths players and staff throughout the season if you ask me - and that will have an adverse effect.

I must admit I have been puzzled by our form all season - it now seems obvious what the problem is.

I doubt there will be much Mikey-ing about over this one because if Madge signs it will be all over the Aussie press and Souths won't keep quiet about it for long. No complex legal issues to get in the way if a coach decides to leave and take another job.

I suppose if the clubs really wanted to pull the wool over our eyes they could put a gagging order on until the end of the season but that would be ridiculous as there would be endless and disruptive speculation and it probably would not work anyway.

He had a reputation as one of the best potential coaches in the game, hence why he was recommended by both Bennett and Bellamy. Given this reputation and our need for new NRL type thinking it was still a risk worth taking, even with what we know now. He's helped us win our first title in 10 years and completely changed the culture of the club for the better.

Of course some people will still want a whinge about it.



It was pretty obvious the clause would be if an NRL coaching job came up, I can't imagine anyone would be thick enough to suggest otherwise. It's just unfortunately it's happened at this time. But like I've already said he wants an NRL gig and we'd have know that when he signed, and they don't come much bigger than the Rabbitohs.



Yes his ambition and drive have won us the title and changed the club for the better - that's how it's affected Wigan. If it's handled right there's no reason why we can't build on what he's achieved. If you employ up and coming talent there's always a risk they'll be in demand, and they know it.

I'm obviously a glass half full person.