Former South Sydney Rabbitohs premiership coach Maguire Michael  has reportedly verbally accepted to take over as head coach of the NSW Blues, succeeding Brad Fittler.

This comes after the current Canberra Raiders assistant coach emerged as the leading candidate for the head coaching job on Wednesday, with  Jason RyJohn Cartwright,les, Geoff Toovey, Craig Bellamy, and others linked to the position.

According to News Corp, Maguire has “verbally agreed” to become the next NSW State of Origin coach after accepting a job offer from the New South Wales Rugby League.

The talks are said to be nearing completion after Maguire notified the Raiders that he wishes to take over the job that Brad Fittler formerly held.

The offer he will accept is for a part-time position.

Maguire has recently received a lot of support from two previous legendary State of Origin greats who believe he is the best fit for the top coaching post with the NSW Blues.

“I think Michael Maguire would be a great pick,” said Matthew Johns, a four-time NSW Blues five-eighth, on SEN 1170’s The Round Up.

“Some might argue that Michael Maguire isn’t currently a head coach; he’s an assistant to Ricky Stuart, but he’s in charge of New Zealand.” The distinction with ‘Madge’ is considerably more pronounced.

“He’s always thinking about his principles and how he wants to approach work.” I’m sure Madge would start scribbling notes as soon as this NSW job became available, just in case he got it.

“He’s doing a great job at New Zealand, I don’t think they would necessarily be happy about this with Madge being constantly spoken about but it’s important to say that Madge actually hasn’t put his hand up, his focus is on New Zealand, but I really think he’d do a good job.”

Lote Tuqiri’s views on Magurie were followed by Johns’. Tuqiri not only played six Origin games for Queensland in 2001-02, but he is also a previous player under Maguire.

“I think Madge would be the frontrunner because he’s so passionate about what he does,” Tuqiri told SEN 1170 Sportsday.

“Some of the players who played under him would know that maintaining that level of passion for 26 to 28 rounds is extremely difficult.”

“He’s learnt a fair bit, but I think a six-week block with cream-of-the-crop players, Madge could do a really good job with Nathan Cleary and the players he has at his disposal.”

Prior to Brad Fittler’s hiring as NSW Blues coach, the current New Zealand Kiwis Test coach applied for the position.

He will also bring a 55% winning record in his club coaching career with the Wigan Warriors, South Sydney Rabbitohs, and Wests Tigers, as well as a 67% winning record in command of New Zealand since 2018.

“It’s about creating an environment that encourages performance.” Whether at the club or representative level, the goal is to create an environment in which

“That’s what you set out to do. When I was at Souths in ’14 and when I was at Wigan, the players created a strong environment that was set by the people around them.

“Having a great group around them to give them the best opportunity to perform, that’s what you want.”