Pressure is rumoured to be building on Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire, with the club slumping near the bottom of the NRL ladder.
The Tigers have struggled badly throughout 2021, and while Maguire's hard-nosed style was said to be what the club needed, his comments following their last-start loss before this weekend's bye are rumoured to have rubbed players up the wrong way.
With David Nofoaluma this week removed from the leadership group after arriving at training hungover some weeks ago, and Maguire saying he needed "men who are going to be accountable" to take the Tigers forward at the post-match press conference after the aforementioned loss to the Rabbitohs, things are going pear-shaped at Leichhardt.
According to Michael Chammas, speaking on Triple M on Saturday, the problems at the Tigers are escalating.
“I think we are all starting to hear the rumblings around the Tigers and a little bit of unrest at the club in regards to the way they go forward,” said Chammas.
“Quite a few of the players had their noses out of joint a little offended by Michael Maguire’s comments last week.”
“It’s the reality of the situation that if he’s starting to lose them and comments like that, sending text messages amongst each other about ‘what’s the coach saying here about us’ and they’re taking offence to it.
“Whether they are right or wrong that is the reality of the situation Madge now finds himself in. How you overturn that, given their start to the year, given they are struggling to recruit players. I’m starting to feel he is losing a lot of support with the people that matter.”
The Tigers set to have Tim Sheens arrive at the club in the coming weeks, and some speculation is suggesting the under-pressure Maguire is already on a ticking time bomb to save his jobs, with potentially as little as six weeks to turn things around.
That being said, the Tigers play the 15th-placed Broncos after this weeks bye, one of only two teams behind them, and another loss could all but end Maguire's tenure in charge of the club.
Maguire has been in charge at the Tigers since 2019.
