Michael Maguire is relishing the chance to tackle Kokoda Track Brent Read THE AUSTRALIAN SEPTEMBER 12, 2014 OVER the coming month, Michael Maguire’s sole focus will be on leading South Sydney to an elusive premiership. Having hopefully conquered one mountain, another challenge awaits. At the end of the season, Maguire will spend nine days walking the Kokoda Track, a journey he has imagined taking for most of his life. Then, having made his way out of the jungle in Papua New Guinea, he will walk back into the darkness with a group of South Sydney juniors, part of the Young Guns group he has helped mentor this season. The disparate group includes kids from diverse backgrounds and it was their trip to PNG that planted the seed for Maguire to undertake the journey. Jason Peterson, the man who devised the Young Guns concept, initially approached Maguire to help promote the trip in the hope of attracting financial backing to alleviate the cost for the kids. Maguire went one step further. He convinced Peterson to take him along. “It was just a social conversation,” Maguire recalled. “He was saying he was taking some kids over there. I said if I got a chance to do it, I would love to come with him and help the kids out. “That’s where it all started and it has snowballed over the past 12 months. It’s come upon us very quickly. From a life experience, being able to do that as a kid, they will have those memories for their lives. “For any young kid to be able to say they have done Kokoda ... kids don’t get that opportunity much in life to experience those things. “As a young kid, it was something that appealed to me. I have always been aware of it. It’s a big challenge. “A lot of people have probably fallen short of being able to do it. It’s something I looked forward to. She is going to be rough and tough,” he added. “There is going to be no bedding. It’s going to be out there in the wild. It’s pretty wild terrain.” Maguire says this as he sits outside a coffee shop in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, the sun beaming down the day after his side was beaten by their arch-rivals the Sydney Roosters in the last round before the finals. The agreeable surrounds of Coogee Beach are about as far removed from Kokoda as you can get, yet Maguire has always relished the opportunity to take both himself and his teams out of the comfort zone. Before joining Souths, he incorporated the military into his pre-season training with Super League side Wigan. He has done the same at the Rabbitohs, believing the principles they learn from the army can be applied to the football field. Concepts such as sacrifice and discipline have become part of the South Sydney narrative. In the process, members of the military have become part of the wider Souths family, acting as mentors to both Maguire and the players. “I like that they’re disciplined people and how they live their life,” Maguire said. “They are putting their bodies on the line all the time. That’s a little bit similar to what we do in rugby league. It’s something I would have liked to have done. “I am very close to a lot of them now. How they train and go about things — they have great discipline. “The training and the attitude to what they do is a big thing in how they live. “I talk to a lot of them. They are actually quite a big part of what we do at Souths, just as people. The discipline of what they do. “A lot of our players have become friends with them because of what we have done with them. You learn lessons off them. Our sport is a tough sport, but what they do … it’s real. “It gives you a good perspective on life.” Maguire and his players will need a healthy dose of perspective over the next month as expectation rises among the Souths faithful. Once again, they arrive in September with an opportunity to end the sports’ most celebrated drought, a premiership vacuum stretching back to 1971. The expectation and hype will no doubt rise to suffocating levels, starting tonight when the Rabbitohs take on Manly in the opening game of the finals at Allianz Stadium. Victory would take the side straight into a preliminary final, the game that has proved their downfall over the previous two years. The good news is they look better placed this year than in the previous two. For Maguire, a successful month would be the perfect precursor to achieving another life goal. “I love training,” Maguire said. “Of course I love pushing myself. Physically and mentally, trying to push yourself to new limits is always a great challenge. “I get to see that every day with the players. Not only that, I get to see that with these young kids now. That’s part of making a team. “As much as it is challenging and not everyone’s cup of tea, to be able to experience things together is what it is all about. “It’s quite humbling to see a kid develop and have opportunities. They’re the things of character traits at our club — giving kids opportunities.”
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 20:07:12 +0000