Michael Maguire has reportedly coached his last game in charge of the Wests Tigers.
The under siege coach is thought to be the topic of an internal review this week, which Tim Sheens said yesterday would happen while the club has a bye in Round 13.
Sheens has previously been steadfast in his support of Maguire, with the director of football claiming the club wouldn't be changing coach during the season.
His tone had visibly changed yesterday though when telling The Sydney Morning Herald that nothing was off the table in the review, with the club sitting second last on the table through 12 rounds of football.
“There’s always ongoing speculation. I won’t make specific comments on the coach. It is a moment for us to stop and catch our breath and then put forward a recommendation after that. There’s a board meeting next month," Sheens said on Monday.
“The questions will come with that about where we are going and what we are doing moving forward. There’ll have to be some recommendations. The bye gives us a chance to stop and reassess without the emotion of it all. This isn’t all aimed at one person, it’s about the club generally.”
Maguire had eased pressure on himself with a pair of mid-season wins over the Parramatta Eels and South Sydney Rabbitohs, however, just a single win since then, combined with conceding 36, 36 and 44 points defensively in their last three losses, could be the final nail in the coffin of the coach.
The Daily Telegraph's Phil Rothfield told Fox Sports' NRL 360 on Tuesday night however that Maguire won't survive the review.
“Pressure builds as we all know … I think there is a split board,” he said. “Some want to move on now and others want to give him a bit more time.
“I think those wanting to get rid of Madge will win, I think they have done it very cleverly. The smarter people at the club want to use State of Origin, where they are talking to Freddy, talking to Billy Slater, talking to Payne Haas.
"I think he has probably coached his last game.”
Despite Sheens confirming the review for the club, Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis told SEN Radio the review was more of a health check than anything else, and that the board were treating things "business as usual."
“He (Sheens) has just found an opportune time when there’s this little two week hiatus in the season to do a little health check and see how we are sitting and why are we 3-12 and are we happy with that — no we’re not — what we need to do to improve, what changes may or may not need to be made,” he said.
“From the board’s perspective, it’s business as usual today. There’s no emergency board meetings, there’s no panicked phone calls, there’s no late night zoom hook-ups. Tim said he’s going to have a look at how things are at the moment, he’ll come back to the board at the appropriate time with some recommendations."
It all comes as Canterbury Bulldogs director of football Phil Gould threw cold water on the idea that the Bulldogs could sign Maguire, suggesting he hasn't had a single applicant for the role yet.
"Tim Sheens has been quoted a number of times this year, privately and even publically saying that he doesn't see any reason to change the coach through the course of the season. The club just doesn't need the headlines at this stage. Why the rush now?" Gould said on Channel 9s 100% Footy.
The Tigers next match isn't until Sunday, June 12 - still a week and a half away - when they host the Manly Sea Eagles in Round 14 at Campbelltown Sports Stadium just four days after State of Origin 1, with questions over whether Daly Cherry-Evans will back up for Manly.
The Tigers have no Origin players to worry about.
