Paul McGregor (rugby league)

Paul McGregor (born 31 December 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who was until August 2020, the head coach of the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a centre in the 1990s and 2000s.

Paul McGregor
Personal information
Full namePaul McGregor
Born (1967-12-31) 31 December 1967
Dapto, New South Wales, Australia
Height188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight101 kg (15 st 13 lb)
Playing information
PositionCentre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1991–98 Illawarra Steelers 124 44 0 0 176
1999–01 St. George Illawarra 34 13 0 0 52
Total 158 57 0 0 228
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1992–97 Country Origin 5 1 0 0 4
1992–98 New South Wales 14 4 0 0 16
1994–97 Australia 3 1 0 0 4
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2014–20 St. George Illawarra 151 70 0 81 46
Source: [1][2]
As of 28 July 2020

McGregor played his club football for the Illawarra Steelers and the St. George Illawarra Dragons at the commencement of their joint venture in 1999. He remained with the club and was appointed interim coach following the sacking of Steve Price part-way through the 2014 NRL season. He played for the Country Origin, New South Wales and Australia at international level.

McGregor was the assistant coach for the New South Wales Blues between 2021 and 2023.[3]

Background

McGregor was born in Dapto, New South Wales, Australia.

Playing career

McGregor played five seasons of first grade at Dapto before being signed by the Steelers at age 23 in 1991. He made his first grade debut in round 1 against the Penrith Panthers at WIN Stadium on 17 March.

McGregor represented the NSW Blues in fourteen State of Origin games between 1992 and 1998. He added a touch of class to the Blues backline in the 1990s with his trademark step and wonderful offloads. He was a powerful runner of the football out wide and provided a great combination with his club teammate, Blues winger Rod Wishart.

Paul McGregor made his Test debut for Australia from the bench in a one-off Test against France on 6 July 1994, scoring a try in the Kangaroos record 58–0 win at the Parramatta Stadium in Sydney. At the end of the 1994 NSWRL season, he was selected to the 1994 Kangaroo tour, though his tour came to a premature end with a hamstring injury suffered in the Kangaroos 80–2 win over the Sheffield Eagles.

He was Man of the Match in Game II of the 1997 State of Origin series.

He had played 124 games with the Steelers club from 1991 to 1998, scoring 44 tries. He was a part of the Steelers 1992 Tooheys Challenge winning side that defeated the Brisbane Broncos.

McGregor was the foundation captain of the St. George Illawarra joint venture from 1999, leading the team into the 1999 NRL Grand Final against the Melbourne Storm.[4] He spent time on the sidelines with injury that year and following a shoulder reconstruction he did not play during the entire 2000 NRL season. McGregor returned to the club in 2001 on an incentive based contract and retired at the end of the season, having played 34 games with the joint venture club.

McGregor was side-lined by a shoulder injury and so could not represent Scotland at the 2000 Rugby League World Cup[5]

In 2011, the Illawarra Rugby League's centenary year, McGregor was named at centre in the Illawarra 'team of the century'.[6]

Coaching career

McGregor joined the St. George Illawarra's coaching staff in 2002 as a strength and conditioning coach, a position he also held with the NSW Blues.[7]

In 2009, with Wayne Bennett joining the club, McGregor left and took up the head coaching job at the Western Suburbs Red Devils club in the Illawarra Rugby League competition.[8]

McGregor coached the Illawarra NSW Cup team in 2012 and 2013 before taking up the assistant position at St. George Illawarra. His successor at the Illawarra Cutters was another former Illawarra player, Ian Millward.

Following the announcement of the sacking of incumbent first grade coach, Steve Price, McGregor was elevated to coach of the top tier team in May 2014, initially until the end of the 2014 season.[9] Following improved form, McGregor was announced as the full-time head coach for the next three seasons until the end of 2017.[10]

In 2015, McGregor coached St. George Illawarra to finish in 8th position. This was the club's first finals appearance since 2011.

In 2017, many predicted St. George Illawarra go finish in the bottom four, due to a disappointing 2016 season, where the club were extremely poor in attack. In Round 1 2017, St. George Illawarra beat Penrith 42–10.[11] St. George Illawarra would go on to lose in Round 2, but win the next 5 games in a row. Due to improved form, the McGregor was re-signed by the club on 8 June 2017, until the end of 2019. In the second half of the 2017 season, St. George Illawarra suffered a terrible drop in form with the club winning only 4 of the last 11 matches. This drop in form culminated with the club losing against Canterbury in the last round of the regular season. Before the match, St. George Illawarra only needed victory over their lower placed opponents to qualify for the finals as North Queensland had lost the earlier match. Due to St. George Illawarra losing the game, North Queensland went on to finish in 8th place and qualify for the finals. This eventually lead to North Queensland reaching the 2017 NRL Grand Final.[12][13]

In the 2018 season, McGregor guided St. George Illawarra to a 7th-place finish as they qualified for the finals. At one point, they were sitting equal first on the ladder after 20 rounds but for the third season in a row, the club suffered a late season form slump winning just 4 from the remaining 11 matches. McGregor himself came under criticism for the form slump with some sections of the media claiming his job was on the line. In week one of the finals, the Saints faced Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium with the home side being heavily fancied before the match. St. George Illawarra went on to defeat Brisbane 48–18.

The following week, St. George Illawarra played South Sydney in the second elimination final. They led late until the end of the match when Adam Reynolds kicked three field goals to win the match for Souths 13–12.[14][15]

On 18 April 2019, McGregor was granted a two-year contract extension by St. George Illawarra, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2021 season.[16] After St. George Illawarra's 40–18 defeat against Penrith in Round 18 of the 2019 NRL season which left St. George Illawarra in 14th position on the ladder, McGregor came under intense media criticism after he chose to rest Ben Hunt for the game.[17]

In the 2019 NRL season, McGregor coached the joint venture to their worst finish; 15th place. The only thing keeping St. George Illawarra from 16th place were the Gold Coast Titans. McGregor was given a contract extension after the club won four of their first six games. McGregor led the club to win just 4 of their last 18 games, a period which included five-match losing streaks from rounds 7–11 and again from rounds 16–20.

In the COVID-19 interrupted 2020 NRL season, the St. George Illawarra side lost its first four matches, including a 0-18 loss to a weakened New Zealand Warriors team, and a 22-2 loss to the last-placed Canterbury-Bankstown side, leading to renewed speculation about McGregor's future.[18]

On 13 August 2020, McGregor was terminated as head coach of the St. George Illawarra club.[19] He won his final game on 14 August 2020 when his side upset the Parramatta Eels with a tough 14-12 win.

On September 15 2021, McGregor was appointed an assistant coach of the NSW Blues.[20]

On November 5 2021, McGregor joined the Parramatta Eels coaching staff as a consultant for the 2022 NRL Season.[21]On 28 September 2023, it was announced that the NSWRL board had decided not to renew McGregor's contract following another series defeat.[22]

References
  1. "Paul McGregor – Career Stats & Summary (Player)". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  2. "Paul 'Mary' McGregor – Summary (Coach)". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  3. "McGregor appointed to NSW Blues coaching role". New South Wales Rugby League. 15 September 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  4. Logue, Matt (5 March 2008). "Legend Q&A". Rugby League Week. Sydney, NSW: PBLMedia: 30–31.
  5. French, Ray. "The Teams: Scotland". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 16 December 2000. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
  6. "Illawarra rugby league names 'team of the century'". ABC News. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
  7. Masters, Roy (15 February 2007). "Dragons put premiership before Origin". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 17 February 2007. Retrieved 26 July 2008.
  8. "Cleared Crockett still without NRL club". Sydney Morning Herald. Stuff.co.nz. 31 January 2009. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  9. Carayannis, Michael (26 May 2014). "Steve Price sacked by Dragons". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  10. "Dragons Appoint McGregor Full-Time". St George Illawarra Dragons. Telstra Media. 22 August 2014. Archived from the original on 24 August 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  11. "St George Illawarra Dragons defeat Penrith Panthers 42–10 in Round One boilover". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  12. Brock, Dominic (6 September 2017). "Dragons 2017 season review". NRL.com. National Rugby League. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  13. Bailey, Scott (7 June 2017). "St George Illawarra Dragons coach Paul McGregor signs contract extension". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  14. Newton, Alicia (26 October 2018). "St George Illawarra Dragons 2018 season review". NRL.com. National Rugby League. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  15. Mee, Cameron (29 August 2018). "St George Illawarra Dragons stars back coach Paul McGregor". Illawarra Mercury. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 28 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  16. Walter, Brad (18 April 2019). "Why McGregor's the man to lead Red V to glory". NRL.com. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019.
  17. Encarnacion, Matt (25 July 2019). "Dragons coach Paul McGregor defends decision to rest Ben Hunt". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on 26 July 2019.
  18. Chisholm, Ed (2 September 2019). "Paul McGregor facing the axe as St. George Illawarra Dragons coach following horror season". Sporting News. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019.
  19. St John, Mark (13 August 2020). "'I wasn't dealing with it': Sacked Mary breathes fire at Dragons over selection fiasco". Fox Sports Australia.
  20. "McGregor appointed to NSW Blues coaching role". New South Wales Rugby League. 15 September 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  21. "Football Update- Club Announcement". Parramatta Eels. 5 November 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  22. "Fittler quits: NSW on lookout for new Origin coach". www.nrl.com.

Sources
  • Alan Whiticker & Glen Hudson (2007). The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players. Wetherill Park, New South Wales: Gary Allen Pty Ltd. ISBN 978-1-877082-93-1.
  • Matt Logue. "Legend Q&A". Rugby League Week. Sydney, NSW: PBLMedia (5 March 2008): 30–31.
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