SUPER LEAGUE NOT ON THE WANE THANKS TO SHAUN

[josie andrews]

Shaun Wane's elevation to head coach has brought a breath of fresh air to Super League this year.

Dead-pan Australian Michael Maguire is undoubtedly a fine tactical coach and Wigan will forever be in his debt for bringing back the trophy-winning days to the famous club.

But Maguire displayed as much charisma as a duck-billed platypus during his two years at the DW Stadium, aptly illustrated when he delivered a string of "no comments" when quizzed over Martin Gleeson's sudden disappearance from the scene in 2010.

In fact probably the only time Maguire raised an eyebrow during a press conference was purely by accident when he revealed that an injury to forward Ryan Hoffman amounted to a "cork in his backside".

While Maguire is now sending journalists to sleep at South Sydney, Wane is entertaining the British media with his from-the-heart comments.

What you see is what you get with Wane, a no-nonsense front rower in his playing days who is displaying those same stoical qualities in his new role.

So the tough-as-teak forward had no sympathy whatsoever for the plight of Epalahame Lauaki when he was knocked out during the Warriors' Challenge Cup quarter-final against St Helens.

In fact, Wane was absolutely horrified at the prospect of his prop forward being carried off on a stretcher.

"He's a front rower and they get knocked out," was his simple explanation for the injury.

"I'm glad he didn't go off on that stretcher. That would have been embarrassing. I'd have dragged him off myself first."

Wane was given a hard act to follow after Maguire ended Wigan's 12-year wait for a Grand-Final success in 2010 and bridged a nine-year gap with victory in the Challenge Cup final 12 months later.

But the signs are looking good for the 47-year-old Wane, who does not attempt to hide a burning desire to lead his home-town team out at Wembley and become the first Wigan-born man to win the Cup since Colin Clarke achieved the feat jointly with Alan McInnes 27 years ago.

The Warriors are a point clear at the top of Super League, courtesy of their impressive win at previous leaders Huddersfield last Friday, and they meet Leeds in July for a place in the Cup final.

Maguire had his own ways of motivating his players and clearly had their respect but his successor made no secret of his intention to do things his way and he has certainly stamped his own mark on the team.

When the big man speaks with passion and emotion, it is difficult to imagine his players not wanting to run through the proverbial brick wall for him.

There are, or course, more subtle ways to inspire a team, as Huddersfield's colourful Australian coach Nathan Brown has demonstrated throughout his four years in Super League.

Brown, who would surely have made a top sports psychologist had he chosen a different career path, is not afraid of courting controversy, as he illustrated with his "talks-like-a-duck" criticism of Ian Henderson's call-up by England coach Steve McNamara.

But Brown oozes charisma and proves that Maguire is the exception rather than the rule when it comes to Australian coaches.

It seems entirely appropriate that from next season Brown will be plying his trade at St Helens, who have employed an articulate and media-savvy bunch of Australian head coaches over the years, from Shaun McRae through to Daniel Anderson and Royce Simmons.

Englishman Mike Rush is currently doing a fine job of bringing a light-hearted touch to post-match proceedings at Langtree Park but he will have a tough task emulating the most colourful character of all, Ian Millward.

Millward, of course, has currently little to joke about with Castleford's difficult season but he was at least frank in his assessment of his side's 70-12 humiliation at Hull KR on Sunday, describing it as "one of the worst defensive performances I have seen for a long time".Honesty and candour are qualities that have never been in short supply in rugby league and are currently on display in abundance in Super League.

http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ml&BID=480

[cpwigan]

Madge talks plenty to the media Down Under and he gave a brilliant GF winning interview here. I never felt he did anything wrong re the media. Neither do I think Waney has done anything wrong.

Perhaps the British RL Media get treated as people find them? Idiots? What do these lazy idiots want a SL full of Gary Schofields?

Ellery never talked off the pitch. He communicated plenty on it to millions of viewers and thousands of fans.

[bourbon_rat]

Yes - Whoever wrote the article was so proud of it
They never left a by line :doz:

Never been a fan of the sports media,since they rarely tell the full story & in the absence of one will invent something.
Think it's known as 'Rupert's Law'

[i'm spartacus]

The one thing that always tickeled me about Madge was how many times he could say 'you know' in an interview. He could even start a finish a sentence with it..
I can't remember the exact figure but I once counted around 48 times in a four minute interview.