Maguire insists he's right man for job of digging Tigers out of mire

Michael Maguire's future will be the subject of an end-of-season review but the coach insisted he was the man to lead the club out of the doldrums after Sunday's embarrassing 38-0 loss to Canterbury.

He believes the return of a number of injured players will improve the club's fortunes in 2022. The team put in its worst performance of the season against the wooden spooners who had only tasted success twice previously in 2021.

Maguire pointed to the absences of key players Adam Doueihi, James Tamou, Daine Laurie, Luke Garner and James Roberts as reasons for the round-25 capitulation and their returns, along with UK recruits Jackson Hastings and Oliver Gildart, loom as bright signs on the horizon.

"We had 12 blokes sitting on the sideline so we will be a different team next year but what we have got now is a lot of experience with these younger guys going forward and understanding what it takes to play first grade," Maguire said.

"When you look at all those younger blokes, I know we've got Jackson and Oliver Gildart coming, the younger boys and bringing back in 10 of our players that are sitting on the sideline at the moment, we've got the makings of what it takes to move forward in the competition and grow the team."

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Asked if he was the man to turn around the club, Maguire insisted he was and said that process was underway.

"We're in the process of changing it - no doubt people will continually refer to the 10 years [without a finals appearance] but it's about the future and where we're going," he said.

"That's one thing that I've spoken about quite a bit, the transformation of what we're doing at the club. You saw a lot of youth out there.

"We've talked about these younger guys. Unfortunately out there today the pressure built, we had a young player like Zac Cini come out for the first time and that's been the challenge that I've faced bringing in guys that haven't played for quite some time, these younger boys are expected to stand up straight away.

"The availability of a number of our players on the sideline will change that team and we know exactly where we're going.

"We had Daine Laurie, Adam Doueihi, Jimmy Tamou, Luke Garner, James Roberts, there's a number of senior players that add to what we need to do. We've got a number of players that with those names can steer a strong team around.

"I know exactly where the team's going. The organisation knows where the team's going.

"We've got to make sure we continually be disciplined about what we're trying to build here.

"Changing teams and changing pathways of clubs takes a little bit of time. It doesn’t mean you can't get better performances on the park, I'll acknowledge that. It's about continually sticking to the path of where we're going with this group.

"We've gone to a number of youth now then you add in those players I spoke about just before and the game's a lot different."