IF it was in his nature, Michael Hagan would be gloating right now. Potting a few of his detractors even. It's not.
You won't catch him grandstanding. He doesn't chase accolades. There's no ego to speak of.
Privately, he is unassuming simply a down-to-earth nice guy.
And yes, nice guys sometimes run last.
It happened to the Newcastle Knights coach and his side last season. And it cost Hagan his job.
But 12 months after secretly finding out the club's power-brokers were preparing to knife him, Hagan remains true to himself.
His team is within sight of the biggest turnaround in the history of the game last to first in the space of a season.
Quite an achievement and reason enough for the vanquished coach to vent his spleen at his own treatment.
Not likely.
As the Knights prepare for tonight's showdown against Manly at EnergyAustralia Stadium, Hagan is guarded about having the focus on himself.
But he did open up to Main Game on a range of subjects.
HIS DEMISE
Hagan says he has dealt with the hurt that went with finding out he wasn't wanted by Newcastle in 2007.
THE TURNAROUND
Hagan claims it took a public declaration from himself and then football manager Mark Sargent and, ultimately, a wooden spoon season to expose the massive deficiencies within the club's football operations.
COACHING JIBES
Hagan's detractors argue he has been earning a living all these years under false pretences.
INJURIES
The statistics are compelling.
TONIGHT
"It is not going to be easy because Manly is going to come up here with a fair share of confidence given their win here a few weeks back," Hagan says.
"I knew the writing was on the wall in September last year," he says.
"The fact that it was dealt with and brought to a head before January or February, I think I have dealt with a lot of that hurt.
"I don't think about it too often now."
Hagan says it was the way the club handled his sacking rather than the sacking itself which hurt the most.
"Their decision was made last September but rather than get it out in the open, they hid behind this suggestion that my position would be reviewed.
"I've been here for six years and they said they wanted to assess whether they thought I could coach or not on the basis of eight to 10 games.
"Some up-front honesty would not have gone astray and while I would have still been disappointed to be going, I could have accepted that."
Hagan rarely communicates with club chief executive Ken Conway and is believed to have spoken privately to board member and former captain Paul Harragon about his role in the sacking decision.
But he refuses to be publicly critical.
"That's better left alone," he says.
In a move which did not go down well with club officials, Hagan and Sargent went public with their concerns over the lack of staff and the poor state of facilities for the players.
"It is something this club had always overlooked on a consistent basis," he says.
"Because the team has been deemed successful and we have had the benefit of good players at the club consistently over the years, some of the short-comings in all the other areas have been overlooked.
"It wasn't until the run of events last year (injuries and loss of games) that we finally sat up and thought, hang on, we are that far off the pace it is not funny.
"We needed to invest decent revenue in our staff, facilities and second-tier player payments which we have been embarrassingly well short of compared to all other clubs.
"Now, we find ourselves in a much stronger position at the end of this season because of that. "What was said was totally justified."
That his premiership win at his first attempt in 2001 was largely because of the groundwork his predecessor Warren Ryan had laid the previous couple of years.
And that since then, Andrew Johns has more or less coached the side.
The fact Ryan couldn't win the premiership in 2000 with a superior playing roster than Hagan had at his disposal the following year shoots down the first jibe.
On the Johns factor, Hagan says people will make up their own minds no matter what he says.
"There is no better or more influential player in the game than Andrew and I think we have always worked well together," he says.
"I'd be silly not to consult with him regularly as I try and do with all the senior players like Danny Buderus, Steve Simpson, Matt Gidley and Craig Smith.
"But as I said, people will ultimately think and say what they want so I don't dwell on it.
"Thankfully, someone at Parramatta must think I can coach a bit."
Injured Knights players missed a combined total of 234 games last season when the club finished at the bottom of the ladder. With the addition of three full-time staffers, a new strength and conditioning manager in Scott Dickinson and improved rehab and training facilities, that number has been cut to 64 this season.
Only two players from the club's top squad fullback Milton Thaiday and utility Chris Bailey are unavailable tonight through injury.
"We had three full-time staff last year now we have six and it's made a tremendous difference to the function of the football team," Hagan says.
"The legacy from my comments and Sarge's comments should be that we invest even more in the football team next year and down the track.
"Our fans shouldn't have had to turn up last year every week and see 12 blokes on the sideline week after week because we weren't prepared to invest enough money in looking after the football team."
"It going to be a great opening to the finals series."
pic that goes with the article
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5238442,00.jpg
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph
You won't catch him grandstanding. He doesn't chase accolades. There's no ego to speak of.
Privately, he is unassuming simply a down-to-earth nice guy.
And yes, nice guys sometimes run last.
It happened to the Newcastle Knights coach and his side last season. And it cost Hagan his job.
But 12 months after secretly finding out the club's power-brokers were preparing to knife him, Hagan remains true to himself.
His team is within sight of the biggest turnaround in the history of the game last to first in the space of a season.
Quite an achievement and reason enough for the vanquished coach to vent his spleen at his own treatment.
Not likely.
As the Knights prepare for tonight's showdown against Manly at EnergyAustralia Stadium, Hagan is guarded about having the focus on himself.
But he did open up to Main Game on a range of subjects.
HIS DEMISE
Hagan says he has dealt with the hurt that went with finding out he wasn't wanted by Newcastle in 2007.
THE TURNAROUND
Hagan claims it took a public declaration from himself and then football manager Mark Sargent and, ultimately, a wooden spoon season to expose the massive deficiencies within the club's football operations.
COACHING JIBES
Hagan's detractors argue he has been earning a living all these years under false pretences.
INJURIES
The statistics are compelling.
TONIGHT
"It is not going to be easy because Manly is going to come up here with a fair share of confidence given their win here a few weeks back," Hagan says.
"I knew the writing was on the wall in September last year," he says.
"The fact that it was dealt with and brought to a head before January or February, I think I have dealt with a lot of that hurt.
"I don't think about it too often now."
Hagan says it was the way the club handled his sacking rather than the sacking itself which hurt the most.
"Their decision was made last September but rather than get it out in the open, they hid behind this suggestion that my position would be reviewed.
"I've been here for six years and they said they wanted to assess whether they thought I could coach or not on the basis of eight to 10 games.
"Some up-front honesty would not have gone astray and while I would have still been disappointed to be going, I could have accepted that."
Hagan rarely communicates with club chief executive Ken Conway and is believed to have spoken privately to board member and former captain Paul Harragon about his role in the sacking decision.
But he refuses to be publicly critical.
"That's better left alone," he says.
In a move which did not go down well with club officials, Hagan and Sargent went public with their concerns over the lack of staff and the poor state of facilities for the players.
"It is something this club had always overlooked on a consistent basis," he says.
"Because the team has been deemed successful and we have had the benefit of good players at the club consistently over the years, some of the short-comings in all the other areas have been overlooked.
"It wasn't until the run of events last year (injuries and loss of games) that we finally sat up and thought, hang on, we are that far off the pace it is not funny.
"We needed to invest decent revenue in our staff, facilities and second-tier player payments which we have been embarrassingly well short of compared to all other clubs.
"Now, we find ourselves in a much stronger position at the end of this season because of that. "What was said was totally justified."
That his premiership win at his first attempt in 2001 was largely because of the groundwork his predecessor Warren Ryan had laid the previous couple of years.
And that since then, Andrew Johns has more or less coached the side.
The fact Ryan couldn't win the premiership in 2000 with a superior playing roster than Hagan had at his disposal the following year shoots down the first jibe.
On the Johns factor, Hagan says people will make up their own minds no matter what he says.
"There is no better or more influential player in the game than Andrew and I think we have always worked well together," he says.
"I'd be silly not to consult with him regularly as I try and do with all the senior players like Danny Buderus, Steve Simpson, Matt Gidley and Craig Smith.
"But as I said, people will ultimately think and say what they want so I don't dwell on it.
"Thankfully, someone at Parramatta must think I can coach a bit."
Injured Knights players missed a combined total of 234 games last season when the club finished at the bottom of the ladder. With the addition of three full-time staffers, a new strength and conditioning manager in Scott Dickinson and improved rehab and training facilities, that number has been cut to 64 this season.
Only two players from the club's top squad fullback Milton Thaiday and utility Chris Bailey are unavailable tonight through injury.
"We had three full-time staff last year now we have six and it's made a tremendous difference to the function of the football team," Hagan says.
"The legacy from my comments and Sarge's comments should be that we invest even more in the football team next year and down the track.
"Our fans shouldn't have had to turn up last year every week and see 12 blokes on the sideline week after week because we weren't prepared to invest enough money in looking after the football team."
"It going to be a great opening to the finals series."
pic that goes with the article
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5238442,00.jpg
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph
