Maguire plots surprise attack

Friday 5th February 2010

Story in brief:

Michael Maguire is planning to catch Brian Noble by surprise when his predecessor returns to the DW Stadium tonight with Crusaders RL.

New Wigan Warriors coach Michael Maguire is planning to catch Brian Noble by surprise when his predecessor returns to the DW Stadium tonight with his Crusaders RL team.

Noble, shown the door by Wigan at the end of last season, knows the players inside out after spending three and a half years at the club and will be aiming to use that inside knowledge to ruin Maguire’s Engage Super League debut.

“He definitely knows all the players but I’ve added a few things and hopefully I can catch him by surprise,” said Maguire, the former Melbourne Storm assistant who has scrapped the captaincy in favour of a leadership team as part of his innovations.

“I’ve brought a lot of games plans over here that I want to put in place. It’s an exciting time, my first game as head coach.”

Noble has still to complete the reconstruction of his new team but they will go into tonight’s game with the benefit of having played a match.

Crusaders pushed champions Leeds Rhinos for an hour in their opening fixture at the Racecourse Ground last Friday before tiring and Maguire knows they will be better for the run-out.
 
“They were very competitive, running hard and tackling hard,” said Maguire. “It has the recipe for a good game.

“We’ve got to be ready for anything. That was their first game and they will have some improvement. What we want to do is focus on what we’re about.”

Crusaders will give a debut to their latest recruit, New Zealand second rower Weller Hauraki, as they feel their way into the new season.

“Leeds and then Wigan is a really tough start for us,” admitted first team coach Jon Sharp. “It’s very much about bench-marking, we’ll see where we are after round two.”