What’s the Buzz: Wests Tigers ‘sign up’ war hero for NRL season 2022
Under fire Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire has turned to what he believes will be a secret weapon in season 2021.
James Phelps
3 min read
January 2, 2022 - 1:51PM
News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
NRL: The NRL is expected to ramp up their COVID-19 protocols in response to the latest spike in cases.
Michael Maguire has invited Curtis McGrath into Wests Tigers’ inner sanctum after being inspired by the Paralympic champ’s story.
The Tigers coach recruited McGrath to become his secret weapon this season after hearing the former soldier talk about the horror of losing both his legs in an IED blast and the glory of becoming a world champion less than a year later.
“We talk a lot about overcoming adversity in rugby league,” Maguire said. “And I don’t think I have ever met anyone who has overcome more challenges than Curtis. It is not just what he has done but how he has gone about it.”
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Curtis McGrath, Blood, Sweat and Steel.
Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire. Picture: Toby Zerna
Maguire – who has studied military tactics and taken his teams to Australian military bases for gruelling SAS-style pre-season camps – is hoping to tap into the steely mindset that has seen McGrath conquer every challenge he has faced since losing both his legs.
Also the New Zealand coach, Maguire is hoping to bring the Kiwi-born McGrath into his Test team camp this year.
Maguire spent about 30 minutes chatting to McGrath after meeting him at the launch of the soldier-turned-Paralympian’s book Blood, Sweat and Steel.
Kiwi roasted
For all-round nice guys it’s tough to beat McGrath, but even his mates couldn’t help having a cheeky crack at his Kiwi ancestry as he was being airlifted out from Afghanistan.
The triple Paralympic gold medallist was serving in the Australian Army in Afghanistan in 2012 when he stepped on an improvised explosive device and lost his right leg above the knee and left leg below the knee.
It’s well known that Curtis, fighting shock, blood loss and excruciating pain, vowed then and there that when he recovered, he would represent his country at the Paralympic Games.
Curtis McGrath lost both legs when he stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan.
But the 33-year-old revealed recently that as he was being stretchered to be airlifted out, his mates couldn’t resist having a dig at him.
Curtis, who grew up in Queenstown before his family moved to Australia, said he couldn’t help but smile through the pain when one of the stretcher bearers told him he had an immediate decision to make.
Because if he was going to be a Paralympian and he chose to represent New Zealand over Australia, he could bloody well walk himself to the chopper. Gotta love a good sense of humour.
Club split: Team A v Team B
NRL players could be estranged from their own teammates this year with at least one club considering splitting their playing group into two and keeping them in separate Covid bubbles.
In an unprecedented move that would allow them to field a team should a player contract or Covid or become a close contact, the Sydney based team is planning on training a “Team A” and a “Team B” in an isolation so strict that each squad will have their own coaching staff.
Under the radical plan that could be adopted by all NRL clubs, the top 17 would train in isolation from the remainder of the squad so that a Covid case would not send the entire football department into a forced 10 day isolation.
“It may be the only solution to keep the game going,” said a top-ranking official from the club considering the move.
“As it is at the moment, one close contact would mean we would have to stand everyone down for two matches. Having a back-up team ready to go is the only way I think we could field a team.”
As an example, see how the Bulldogs would split their squad below.
The plan would require the NRL to allow the club to add at least four players to their full time squad of 30.
“Having 34 would mean you could have two squads of 17,” the official said.
“But obviously that would not be enough to cover for injuries.”
The Sunday Telegraph has learned that the RLPA has already been approached about the plan.
Clubs are concerned about the cost of adding back-up players to their squad given that all full-time players will have to be paid the NRL minimum wage under current rules
