RUGBY LEAGUE
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Paul McGregor calls it his 'Sliding Doors' moment. When Wayne Bennett came to St George Illawarra and showed 'Mary', then a strength and conditioning coach, the exit.
"I was there for a number of years and Wayne came in 2009," McGregor recalled.
"Obviously he brought Jeremy Hickmans in from Brisbane, which I fully understand. I wasn't coaching then, I was doing performance, strength and conditioning. Wayne wanted to bring someone in he could totally trust and knew what was needed.
"Obviously with me not being under contract, I was moved on. I took up coaching and from that day on won three premierships [in the Illawarra league].
"It's a sliding door. Out one, into another. If I'd stayed with Wayne, who knows whether I'd be coaching? I never look back at anything with too much agony, I look at it as an opportunity.
"It was hard for me then though, I'll be honest. I've been around rugby league for a lot of years and at that time I was no longer on the staff for State of Origin and Country and things like that, to lose all that, as well as your role day to day after 18 years, it was certainly a big change.
"It was a good opportunity for me to learn. It was part of the opportunity to become a coach in the future."
It wasn't the last twist of fate involving Bennett. McGregor will square off against Bennett's Broncos on Friday night, but the former NSW and Australian three-quarter was almost squeezed out of the Red V again.
When Bennett decided to leave Newcastle, the Dragons did everything possible to lure him back. St George Illawarra officials were so confident they had their man they even signed his recruitment manager, Peter Mullholland, from the Knights. It was only a conversation with Lachlan Murdoch that delivered the seven-time premiership-winning coach back to Brisbane.
Asked earlier this year how close he was to recommitting to the Dragons instead, Bennett admitted, "I was only 12 hours away".
Again, the door slid open just in time for McGregor to find his calling as a head coach. McGregor has a fatalistic attitude to such things, but concedes his initial snubbing prompted him to re-evaluate his outlook. Forced out of the NRL, he dedicated himself to his True Blue Chemicals business while getting his league fix as coach of local side Wests, a side that hadn't won a premiership in 18 years.
When McGregor joined, they won three straight. A coaching career, which may not have eventuated had he remained under Bennett, was born.
"When there is change, it always hurts," McGregor said of his emergence from the crossroads.
"But when you get time to think about it it's always for the better. When you think things are at the worst, they usually are and when you think there's an opportunity in something, there usually is.
"I took the approach - and this is the way I want my players and staff to look at it - is if you look at things one way, that's the way it goes."
When the Dragons hosted the Broncos in round seven, they prevailed in a thriller to end a run of eight straight losses to Brisbane. The stakes will be higher in Friday's Suncorp Stadium rematch. Brisbane are clinging to top spot on the ladder on percentages, needing a victory to snap a two-game losing streak and keep alive their hopes of taking out the minor premiership. The Dragons have emerged from a horror seven-game losing streak with back-to-back wins, but need to continue that momentum or risk falling out of the top eight.
In a boost for the visitors, local junior Kiti Glymin re-signed until the end of 2017.
The 22-year-old, who can play on the wing or in the centres, made his NRL debut against the Cowboys in round 17.
