Forgettable return: Hages no longer right at home in Newcastle
BY ROBERT DILLON
FOR 11 years, or 130 games, Michael Hagan's routine was always the same when he arrived at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
Enter the turnstiles, perhaps sign a few autographs and exchange pleasantries with fans, and then veer right after reaching the back of the western stand.
Right . . . to the home-team dressing room.
Last night, for the first time in his career, Hagan veered left.
Left . . . into the parallel universe known as the opposition dressing room.
Hagan is too pragmatic and professional to waste time on sentimentality, but he admitted that entering the away-team's sanctuary felt slightly strange nonetheless.
After all, for a large portion of his professional rugby league career, Hagan lived and breathed for the Newcastle Knights.
EAS, or its former incarnations, Marathon Stadium and the International Sports Centre, was his turf.
As a player, he made 111 appearances in the blue and red, most of them as captain, between 1989 and 1993. As coach, he steered Newcastle in 154 games between 2001 and 2006, snaring a grand final triumph in his debut season.
That represents a combined tally of 265 games, either shedding blood on the field or sweating bullets in the coach's box. Almost half of those fixtures (54 as a player, 76 as a coach, to be precise) were at Turton Road.
But business is business, and last night Hagan was at EAS in his capacity as coach of Parramatta, a position he has filled since the start of last season.
He may have been in familiar territory, but this time he was a visitor, rather than the host.
Our town, our team was now their town, their team.
"It was a bit weird coming into the stadium, I'd have to say," Hagan admitted afterwards. "But it wasn't too daunting. There's plenty of people here that I've known for a long time, so that wasn't too much of an issue for me."
If Hagan's first appearance at EAS in enemy colours was a notable event, there were a couple of other significant milestones to pique the interest.
For Hagan, it was his 200th game as an NRL coach. A good innings, by anyone's standards, but overshadowed by Knights coach Brian Smith, who took his career tally to 500 not out. Only two other Australians, Tim Sheens and Wayne Bennett, have spent longer in the first-grade coaching cauldron.
The Knights marked the occasion with a special presentation by the Member for Newcastle, Jodi McKay, who read out congratulatory letters from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his predecessor John Howard.
Smith's brother Tony, who coaches the Great Britain national team, was also on hand.
But this was neither the time nor place for reminiscing, nostalgia and pats on the back. All that mattered, both for Hagan and Smith, were the two competition points.
Their teams entered last night's match two points adrift of the top eight, trying desperately to stay afloat in the race for the finals.
It was not quite do or die, but it was certainly a crucial juncture.
The high stakes pointed to a contest of fierce intensity, but from the outset it was evident that Newcastle were on the front foot and in no mood to ease up.
The Knights ran in three tries in the opening 18 minutes and led 20-6 at the break. Parramatta, whose only win in the past month was against last-placed North Queensland, were embarrassingly flimsy. Their season appears as good as over.
"It wasn't the ideal way to come back to your former club, but in the end you don't get to write those scripts either," Hagan said.
One of the few highlights for the Eels was a try by former Knight Todd Lowrie in the 70th minute.
At least Lowrie had one fond memory of his homecoming.
One more than Hagan.
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