Tigers' Maguire insists he has full support of the club

Michael Maguire insists the entire Wests Tigers’ club is backing his revamp of the playing roster, despite pressure intensifying over his role as coach.

Tigers players enjoyed a scheduled day off on Monday after their 40-6 humiliation at the hands of Manly, which made for their worst-ever start to a season.

The club was adamant it would be business as usual when they returned on Tuesday, despite having to deny a report that Maguire’s position was under review.

While there were no high-powered meetings discussing Maguire’s future on Monday, the coach did seek the opinions of officials.

Maguire is keen to push his belief that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the Tigers, who have a young spine and have made targeted recruitment calls.

But they have also won just 19 of 51 games during Maguire’s reign, while conceding more than 31 points per game this year to sit 14th.

“I have spoken to everyone within the organisation on where we are taking the club,” Maguire told SEN.

“We are very focused on building not only the top but also the underneath.

“We are changing around where the club has been in the past and that has been through the squad itself.

“We have brought in a lot of younger guys, and I have had to let go of some players just to get things balanced out.”

Maguire admitted that the reports questioning his future had likely sparked from within.

But he also stressed the need to ease speculation, concerned it was impacting players’ performances.

“I think it’s a big part of what goes on in high performance. Anything that is said around the club internally or externally always plays a part,” Maguire said.

“We are human beings. Those conversations are affecting people’s lives and performance.

“I’ve been around long enough now to know if you keep hanging around in the right direction together, you will get to where you need to get to.”

The next fortnight now shapes as crucial for the Tigers, who have winnable games against St George Illawarra and Gold Coast.

The latter game also doubles as a Tommy Raudonikis tribute match at Campbelltown.

Maguire’s former players also jumped to the defence of the coach on Monday.

While Damien Cook admitted he couldn’t believe South Sydney had been able to secure the ageless Benji Marshall after Maguire’s controversial decision not to re-sign him, he stood by his former coach.

“You can’t be chopping and changing and swapping the coaches every second year,” Cook said.

Cook was with Maguire in 2017 when he was sacked by the Rabbitohs, and admitted the coach would be feeling the heat.

“He tries to take it all on himself,” Cook said.

“He tries to take it away from the team and tries to put as much pressure he can on him himself.”