Gorden Tallis in fresh swipe at Michael Maguire after NSW coach's eye-opening comments
Tallis threw Maguire's 'glass houses' remark back at him claiming NSW are the ones who don't take losing on the chin.
Michael Maguire and Gorden Tallis' running feud has gained another chapter after the Queensland great claimed the NSW coach doesn't know what it is like to be targeted by the opposition as he was never good enough in his playing career. On Monday, Maguire doubled down on his now infamous "glass houses" remark ahead of the Game 3 decider.
The Blues mentor accused Queenslanders of living in "glass houses" for criticising Joseph Suaalii and his Blues side over the Reece Walsh high shot in Game 1. Maguire's men also came under fire from Maroons legends such as Tallis for their aggressive approach in the 38-18 demolition of Queensland in Game 2.
Tallis took exception to Latrell Mitchell pushing Walsh in the back during an off-the-ball moment and said the Blues centre and his teammates "bullied" the Queenslanders in Melbourne. Stephen Crichton's grapple tackle on Daly Cherry-Evans and Reece Robson's hair pull on Jaydn Su'A were among other issues that drew the ire of Tallis. But many found the fact Tallis took exception to those moments hypocritical as he was a renowned aggressor during his playing days and frequently was involved in frowned-upon offences while playing for club, state and country.
And the feud went to a whole new level on Monday when Maguire hit out at Tallis' latest comments. He also made no apologies for his side's aggressive approach in Game 2 and suggested the Maroons can expect more of the same in the series decider.
"Gordy might be sitting inside that glass house," Maguire said. "That's where the glass house comes into play. If you're talking to that, you look in Game 1 where certain things were said off the field. Where you (the media) want to take that, that's up to you.
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"But we're very focused about what happens on the field. It was nice to see we had a dominant performance, but it won't mean anything if we don't do it again. We've given ourselves an opportunity to put ourselves in a series. That game is done now. Game 3 is ahead. And whatever is thrown at us we need to deal with.
"I don't know if you would call (how we played in Melbourne) bullying," Maguire said. We just played the style rugby league needs to be played. The first half we were very thorough, the second half we need to improve."
Michael Maguire believes Queensland don't take defeat well
In another interview aired on Monday, the Blues coach told James Hooper that Queensland doesn't address their flaws and instead complains about how unfair things are. “At the end of the day, they got their own opinions. I guess when you live in glass houses, they tend to throw things,” Maguire said in the interview that aired on NRL360 on Monday night.
“We’re focused on what we’re doing but you take into your memories I suppose about things that happen off the field. We had a player walk off the field and certain things were said."
After the interview played out, Tallis was asked about Maguire’s remarks and the man known as the 'Raging Bull' didn't hold back. "All of us live in glass houses, actually he wouldn’t know he never played Origin. You want me to keep it going?" he quipped.
"We can take a loss, the funny thing is that you guys (NSW) can’t. You know what, I saw Madge in Melbourne at the airport and I thanked him. It’s so good, it’s refreshing.
"As the Tigers coach he had no personality. He might even get sacked from this job. He got sacked from Souths and sacked from the Tigers... I played against Madge and he probably was never targeted, no one even knew he was on the field."
