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| Born | (1964-08-12)12 August 1964 (age 61) Brisbane,Queensland, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Height | 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 81 kg (12 st 11 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Five-eighth, Centre, Halfback | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Relatives | Bob Hagan (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Michael Hagan (born 12 August 1964) is an Australian professionalrugby league football coach and former player. He currently works as an assistant coach underMal Meninga for theAustralian rugby league team. AQueenslandState of Origin representativehalf, he played his club football in Australia withCanterbury-Bankstown (with whom he won the1988 and1985 premierships) andNewcastle (whom he captained), as well as in England withHalifax. He went on to have a successful coaching career with Newcastle (winning the premiership with them in 2001) andParramatta, and was also selected to coach theQueensland Maroons for two State of Origin series before becoming Meninga's assistant coach. Hagan was inducted into the Newcastle Knights Hall of Fame in April 2012.[citation needed]
The younger brother of former TestcentreBob Hagan, Hagan was graded withCanterbury in 1983.[2] Although best suited to play atfive-eighth orhalfback, the presence ofTerry Lamb andSteve Mortimer forced Hagan to play much of his career with Canterbury as a "fill in" atfullback orlock forward. Hagan played a role filling in for Lamb in Canterbury's upset win in the 1985 grand final.
In 1988 Hagan was injured in a car crash but recovered to play in Canterbury's three finals, scoring a try in the grand final.[2] With Mortimer retiring, Hagan might have had a chance for a permanent position in the halves, but by this time he had already decided to move toNewcastle where he signed with theKnights.[2]
Hagan's craft and guile at five-eighth led to a rapid rise in the Knights' fortunes: they advanced from fourteenth to sixth (losing a play-off for the club’s first finals berth) in two seasons between 1988 and 1990. He took over Newcastle's captaincy in early 1990, eventually leading the club to its first finals appearance in 1992. Despite fluctuating team fortunes after this, and being moved to a less-preferred centre position to accommodate the emergingMatthew Johns for his final season of 1993, Hagan finished his career without having missed a match in any of his five seasons with the Knights.
Hagan also played 92 games forHalifax in 1984-1985 and 1993–1995. During his career with Newcastle, Hagan played fiveState of Origin games forQueensland, deputising forAllan Langer at halfback in 1989.
Hagan was the media manager for theHunter Mariners during theSuper League war in Australia, and subsequently joined the coaching staff withMal Meninga at theCanberra Raiders, coaching the President's Cup team in 1998 and First Division in 1999.[citation needed]
In 2000, Hagan became the first division coach at the Newcastle Knights, and succeededWarren Ryan as coach in 2001.[citation needed] He became the first former Knights player to coach the club, and later that season led them to victory in the2001 NRL grand final, becoming the first coach sincePhil Gould to win the premiership in his first season.
Hagan coached theQueenslandState of Origin team in 2004 and 2005. Although he was unable to win a series, in both years the series went to a deciding game, only for the Maroons to lose. During both years, Hagan coached the likes ofSlater,Lockyer,Thurston,Thaiday,Smith andBowen (whilst having to coach againstBuderus,Simpson andJohns at the same time), most of whom went on to play for Australia, and most of whom featured prominently in Queensland's eight-year Origin reign between 2006 and 2013. Hagan resigned as Queensland coach in 2005 to concentrate on coaching the Knights given their poor season in which they finished at the foot of the ladder for the first time in the club's history. His successor,Mal Meninga, went on to win nine out of the following ten State of Origin series for Queensland. In 2010 Hagan returned to the Queensland side as an assistant coach.[3]
In 2005, after losing their first thirteen games of the season, the Knights finished with the wooden spoon. In early 2006, Hagan signed a contract to coach theParramatta Eels from 2007 to 2009, finishing his tenure at Newcastle at the end of the 2006 season.[citation needed] He left the Knights as the longest serving coach in club history, and guided them to finals appearances in four of his six seasons, more than any other coach in the team's history.
In 2007, the Eels showed much improvement under Hagan, spending much of the season at 3rd position on the ladder (only behind theMelbourne Storm and bitter rivals theManly-Warringah Sea Eagles) before a surprise defeat against his old club theNewcastle Knights (who were at the time coached byBrian Smith) triggered a late-season form slump. The Eels toned up for the finals by handing what was to be theBrisbane Broncos' worst-ever defeat at the time with a 68-22 mauling (this despite the Eels trailing 22–6 at one stage) in the final round atParramatta Stadium. The Eels advanced to the finals finishing in 5th position which meant a tough away trip in the first round to face the 4th-placedNew Zealand Warriors in New Zealand. The Eels managed to upset the Warriors 12-10 despite a late charge from the hosts. This earned the Eels a home semi final match against long-time rivals theBulldogs. The Eels also won this match comfortably, earning them a preliminary final showdown with theMelbourne Storm at Melbourne'sTelstra Dome. The Eels were gallant in defeat, losing 24–10, whilst Melbourne ultimately went on to win the2007 NRL Grand Final.
Following a relatively disappointing2008 NRL season, Hagan ended his head coaching role at the Parramatta Eels citing family reasons and health.[citation needed]
In 2010, he returned to coaching, being appointed the Maroons assistant coach.[3]
Hagan has made journalistic contributions to 'League Central' section ofThe Daily Telegraph. He provides his opinions on current League issues as well as evaluating team form and performances.
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