Leeds Rhinos legend Danny McGuire loving life as Hull KR assistant after turning down "easy option"

It is understandable; the transition from one to the other is not always seamless and it is well-known that being a tremendous player - as the former Leeds Rhinos, Hull KR and Great Britain stand-off clearly was -does not automatically mean you will be a tremendous coach.

Life on the other side of the white line is brittle, too, with job security not one of its main characteristics.

To that end, McGuire did not automatically consider going into the coaching game when he retired at the end of 2019.

Having rounded off his glittering career - which included eight Grand Final wins with Leeds and still remaining as Super League’s greatest ever try-scorer - in the colours of the Robins, he stayed in the sport having become the East Yorkshire club’s first head of recruitment.

McGuire was also detailed with working in Rovers’ commercial department as well as using his football knowledge to work with the club’s half-backs and lend his experience to the Academy and Scholarship.

However, of course, after Covid shut down the sport last March, frustratingly, he spent much of the year on furlough instead.

For this year, though, there has been a change in direction; with Willie Poching having left to join Wakefield Trinity, it was announced in November that McGuire would become a Robins assistant coach, his main duty working with the first-team under his former Leeds and England chief Tony Smith and alongside fellow assistant Dave Hodgson.

Now in the thick of pre-season, explained to The Yorkshire Post: “I have ummed and ahhed about coaching for a while.

“A lot of players when they have had decent careers, sometimes sort of take the easy option and don’t want to put their reputation on the line; you want to try and protect what you’ve achieved as a player.

“If I’m honest, I was a bit like that. Coaching, if you get into it properly and end up being a head coach, it can be really tough.

“All of a sudden, a few losses, you can be out and you can tarnish what you’ve achieved as a player.

“But I’ve absolutely loved it. This is my fourth week now and I’m just in with the players trying to improve them and trying to be creative with the sessions and the planning.

“I’ve been trying to think of things that I enjoyed as a player and it’s been brilliant.

“The lads at KR have been class; they are all like sponges and love soaking up the information.

“It’s been a pleasure to be coaching them and I’ve really enjoyed it.

“It’s only very early stages but having Tony there above us overseeing it all is great.

“Dave Hodgson was off, too, as his wife was poorly so I was thrown in at the deep end at one point and had to run some of the sessions.

“I’ve not been eased into it; I’ve been thrown in and really enjoyed it.

“But when the boys are wanting to learn it’s really easy to coach that type of player.”

Given he was a team-mate with some of them, having played the last two years of his career at Hull College Craven Park, is it now strange leading them in coaching sessions?

“A little bit,” replied McGuire, who was a natural on-field coach given the way he marshalled colleagues around and carried out gameplans.

“I just try and treat everybody the same. I’m there to try and help them all improve.

“Some of my good friends are here: (former Leeds team-mates) Matty Parcell, Ryan (Hall), Jimmy Keinhorst are really good friends but we have a job to do.

“They need to work hard as players and try and get better and I suppose I’m there to facilitate that and work alongside them as well.

“But they’ve all been great and welcomed me in.”

Having made 416 appearances for hometown Leeds, scoring 267 tries and also winning a brace of Challenge Cups and three World Club Challenges, the Yorkshireman knows what it is like to thrive in a successful team.

The challenge at the Robins is different; they have become perennial strugglers in Super League, something Smith is desperate to turn around.

They finsihed bottom last year so are glad there was no relegation following Toronto Wolfpack’s earlier decision to withdraw but the quality of their recruitment for 2021 suggests they are intent on making sure they are not down there again.

As well as signing England winger Ryan Hall from Sydney Roosters, Rovers have added Fiji prop Korbin Sims from St George Illawarra, Melbourne Storm prop Albert Vete and the excellent Parramatta Eels centre Brad Takairangi.

Closer to home, they have added Warrington Wolves youngster Luis Johnson and 20-year-old former England Academy second-row Muizz Mustapha on a season-long loan from Rhinos.

“We are really happy with the recruitment we got done,” admitted McGuire.

“We got some top-end experience and added a little bit of youth with Louis Johnson, from Warrington, and Muizz coming in from Leeds.

“We feel we have all bases covered. We’re content.

“The lads have been training really well. We just want to get ourselves in the best position for the start of the season really.

“Nothing is won in pre-season and recruitment; it’s all about those performances on the field.

“We’ll get judged when the season starts and I think we can definitely improve on what we threw out there last year.

“We have set ourselves some higher standards to achieve some more things. Hopefully the lads can have a good year.”