NSW confirm Michael Maguire as new State of Origin coach

Nov 29, 2023, 07:00 PM ET

Michael Maguire has been confirmed as the next NSW State of Origin coach following weeks of speculation.

The premiership-winning NRL coach left his post at New Zealand’s national side last week to free himself up for the Blues, who unveiled him at a press conference in Sydney.

Maguire’s coaching staff will include John Cartwright, Matt King and Brett White, who are all premiership-winning players, former Blues and current NRL assistant coaches.

NSWRL Chief Executive David Trodden made the announcement.

“On behalf of the NSWRL Chairman Paul Conlon and the Board, it gives me great pleasure to announce Michael Maguire has agreed to a multi-year appointment as the head coach of the Westpac NSW Blues, starting from 2024,” Trodden said.

“In recent years we have been blessed with the stability of long-term coaching tenures with Brad Fittler, Laurie Daley and Ricky Stuart and we are looking forward to this engagement following the same pattern.

“We all have expectations of immediate success in 2024 together with the opportunity to build a structure that will provide for sustained long-term success.”

The NSW Rugby League first approached Maguire last month after back-to-back series defeats led Brad Fittler to step down.

Maguire had coached the Kiwis since 2018 and will remain an assistant to Ricky Stuart at NRL side Canberra.

He previously guided South Sydney to their drought-breaking 2014 premiership triumph and was head coach of Wests Tigers for three-and-a-half seasons until mid-2022.