‘I enjoy taking advice’: Maguire denies Te’o conspiracy
Joel Gould |
Brisbane coach Michael Maguire has refuted he has a “my way or the highway” approach after being peppered about the resignation of defensive coach Ben Te’o.
Te’o, who also won the 2014 premiership as a player at South Sydney under Maguire, resigned on Tuesday after deciding his position at the club had become untenable.
While none of the key players have gone into detail about the exact reasons why, it is understood the pair have butted heads over a period of time.
There is a narrative that Maguire can be difficult to work with but on Thursday, ahead of Friday night’s derby clash with the Dolphins, the coach was clear when asked whether he struggled to take advice from his assistants.
“I actually really enjoy taking advice from people. I probably do less coaching now than I ever have,” Maguire said.
“As a young coach I was fairly full on and people have spoken about that but (now) I enjoy bringing staff on and people on.”
Maguire said Te’o’s call was one of those things “you don’t expect to happen”, but refused on several occasions to discuss the reasons.
“He submitted his resignation and we’ve taken that,” he said.
Maguire said the defensive processes were already in place to cope with the loss of Te’o and there was “not a rush” to replace him.
Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf said the Te’o saga would “galvanise” the Broncos.
Woolf had offered Te’o, formerly the Dolphins’ Queensland Cup coach, a position on his own staff but he elected to join Brisbane, where he played, instead.
Te’o is unlikely to be back coaching at the Dolphins in the short-term.
“We’ve obviously got staff in place and I’m very, very happy with those staff,” Woolf said.
“I can’t just jump and make positions that aren’t there.
“At the same time I’ve got a lot of respect for Ben, who I’ve known for a long time and particularly from his days at the Broncos, and I made it clear he was a guy that I wanted to keep here.”
Maguire said injured prop Payne Haas was on the improve after injuring an AC joint in the 18-14 win over Melbourne, but cautioned it was a “wait and see” whether he would line up next week against Gold Coast.
He said the Storm display of Haas, who will join South Sydney next year, was a sign of the player’s commitment to the cause.
“It was an incredible effort what we saw last week. At halftime I was told he probably wouldn’t play (in the second half),” Maguire said.
“Next thing the big fella is standing next to me and said, ‘Madge I am going back out there’. It just shows what it means to Payne to play with his teammates and for the club.”
AAP