Josh McGuire’s ready to finally make up for lost time and show Warrington Wolves what he’s made of.
The Australian enforcer, 33, copped a huge seven-game ban after being red carded on debut in a pre-season friendly. It certainly wasn’t how he envisaged life in the UK kicking off after his big move from NRL club St George Illawarra. But the ex-Kangaroos forward now just has one more match to chalk off before his belated Super League debut arrives at last for table-topping Wolves.
In his first interview since being suspended, World Cup winner McGuire said: “It wasn’t an ideal start was it? Luckily, the boys have been playing some really good footy. It just makes my life a little easier coming back with the group excelling at the moment. There’s some tired fellas there so it’ll be a good time to come back and hopefully take a load off a few of the others. I’m just excited to get going. I came over here to play footy.”
McGuire’s return will also be timely given in-form prop Thomas Mikaele is set to return to Australia after Saturday’s game against Hull FC. Less than 12 months after arriving from Wests Tigers, the popular forward is leaving for “family reasons” and is expected to join Gold Coast Titans for a fee. McGuire comes back into the frame for unbeaten Wolves a week later when they head to fellow high-fliers Catalans.
The ex-Queensland State of Origin loose forward was hit with the massive suspension after an altercation with Leigh’s Tom Amone. He was found guilty of using unacceptable language around disability discrimination. But McGuire, who is blind in his left eye, strenuously denied the charge. He admitted: “I was very surprised by what happened.
“I’m disappointed with the way it all went. A few words went back and forth. From both sides. And I said some nasty stuff. But I never said that. It was heat of the moment stuff. We wouldn’t have challenged it if we didn’t have a case but we’ve put it behind us and moved on. It’s been a tough few weeks but it’s been a good opportunity to get the body feeling good and ready to go.”
And Daryl Powell’s Warrington are unrecognisable from the stuttering side that bombed in 11th last season. McGuire was in the stands watching as they walloped Castleford 38-0 at Wheldon Road on Friday making it six wins from six. The hard-hitting ex-Brisbane forward conceded: “I'm super excited now.
“I know the town’s really appreciating the players’ efforts at the moment. I’ve been doing a lot of work with Warrington’s PDRL team since I arrived here. And I've done community work with Wolves around being a big advocate of making sure rugby league is everybody's game. Warrington, especially, has been fantastic with 11 or 12,000 fans at every game.
"I’m just looking forward to getting back and to help keep building on what the boys have done. It’s a very important period of the season for us. After that Catalans game, we’ve got Wigan and St Helens, too. As a club, I feel we’re in a really good position and culturally we’re very strong off the field as well. It’s the way we’re winning, too, showing real resilience and effort. That Cas game was huge. So we are really excited about the opportunity we have. But we know it’s only been six games so we’re not getting ahead of ourselves.”
