The Michael Maguire era at the Wests Tigers is over.
The club have announced that their head coach of the past three and a half seasons has today “been terminated from his role, effective immediately’’.
Former NSW Origin halfback Brett Kimmorley will take over as interim coach for the rest of the season.
“Wests Tigers sincerely thanks Michael for all his hard work and effort over the past three and a half years,’’ the club said in a media statement issued at 2.15pm.
“As this is no doubt a challenging time for all parties, the club would like to respect Michael’s privacy, wish him all the very best and will make no further comment.’’
Wests Tigers director of football Tim Sheens will be available to talk to the media today at 5pm at the club’s head office in Concord.
Maguire has been on borrowed time for more than a year, basically because his team were not winning footy games.
He arrived at the club in 2019 as a premiership winning coach with Souths and big things were expected of him.
Unfortunately he inherited a messy roster from his predecessor, Ivan Cleary, who handed in his resignation when Penrith came calling.
However, it wasn’t exactly a poisoned chalice and Maguire stated publicly that he had the players that would take the club to the finals for the first time in 10 years.
But after finishing 13th last season, in 2022 the side went backwards, winning just three games from 13 rounds.
Unless Kimmorley starts performing some miracles, the wooden spoon could be headed to Concord by the end of August.
Such a prospect left the club without a choice and is the practice in these rugby league matters that the coach pays the ultimate price.
Ironically, Wests Tigers are at Campbelltown this Sunday where they will host old foes Manly Sea Eagles in round 14 of the NRL.
A win would be nice – for the players and the long suffering fans.
