New Zealand Kiwis head coach Michael Maguire has identified one target to be his right hand man at this year's Rugby League World Cup, although he certainly won't rush the former player's development.
Maguire rescued Benji Marshall's international career in 2019, handing him a mid-year lifeline to return to the black-and-white fray after a six year absence, and looks set to repeat the gesture.
Marshall has signed a deal to assistant coach the Wests Tigers for 2023 and 2024, before taking the reins from Tim Sheens in the lead up to the 2025 season.
While his coaching career has a bright future on the horizon, it still remains in its infancy in the present day, enough to give 'Madge' second thoughts over his potential hiring.
Despite recently quitting his roles with Fox Sports and Triple M to begin assistant coaching, Maguire would prefer to see Marshall establish himself at club land before taking the World Cup gig.
โBenji has been busy with his media stuff and only just committed [to coaching], so I think he will be fairly busy getting his thoughts around his role and how he wants to do his coaching when he gets into club land," Maguire told NRL.com.
โI donโt think itโs got a timeline on it, I think itโs just for him to be comfortable with what heโs doing.
โEveryone progresses at a different speed. Players that played at his level, thereโs a lot of knowledge in place already and you tend, as a senior player, to do a fair bit of coaching as you get to the back end of your career.
โSo all that sort of knowledge will play a part in the progression.โ
