NRL larrikin James Maloney has divulged private details of the drama that surrounded his family’s unexpected move to Townsville.
The 37-year-old won premierships with the Roosters and Sharks and has moved to be an assistant coach with the Cowboys.
The former halfback emerged as a highly sought-after coach after returning to Australia and had a part-time job lined up with the Roosters in Sydney.
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With his family, wife Jessica and their four children, settling back into life in western Sydney, another door suddenly opened that Maloney didn’t see coming.
The former Footy Show panellist has told The Sydney Morning Herald it was only a chance meeting with player agent Isaac Moses that planted the seed of a potential move to North Queensland.
Moses, who manages, Cowboys coach Todd Payten informed Maloney about the vacant full-time position at the Cowboys following Dean Young’s departure.
With the discussions moving at a rapid pace, Maloney and wife Jessica had to make the snap decision to up-root their lives again — with Maloney inking a two-year deal to be the club’s attacking coach.
According to reports, the decision left Roosters coach Trent Robinson stranded at the alter, but there is no ill-will surrounding Maloney’s decision to take up the role with the Cowboys.
“I spoke to Robbo, who had a part-time role for me there,” Maloney told the SMH.
“He told me if I couldn’t find a full-time role elsewhere, he had the next best thing for me at the Roosters.
“It came out of the blue the move to the Cowboys. I arrived back in the country on a Tuesday and by Thursday we had just finished organising the kids back into school out in Penrith where we were moving back to. I went to a chicken shop and bumped into Isaac Moses, who looks after Todd Payten. As I was heading out he said to me, ‘What are you doing?’, and I said, ‘I’m doing some stuff with the Roosters’, and he said, ‘Toddy is looking for an attack coach up there’.
“I had a chat with Toddy on the phone, flew up the following week, and by the Friday I had a job. I phoned Robbo when I got the Cowboys job. He said he was always happy to have a chat if I had any questions about coaching.”
Maloney left the NRL in 2019 following two seasons with Penrith and spent the next two years playing for Catalans in the English Super League, helping them to the 2021 grand final that they lost to St Helens.
The former representative five-eighth spent time with Lezignan in the French league where he had a player-coach role, which has given him some experience before his move into NRL coaching.
Maloney played a key role in helping premiership star Nathan Cleary develop into the player he is today, while he’ll have some familiar faces with him in Townsville having won the 2016 title with Chad Townsend and Valentine Holmes.
North Queensland finished the season with the ninth-best attack (546 points) despite boasting weapons like Valentine Holmes, Scott Drinkwater, Tom Dearden and Jeremiah Nanai.
They’ll be hoping Maloney’s experience makes them a force again, with the Cowboys to open their new season with a showdown against fellow Queensland side the Dolphins at Suncorp Stadium on March 10.
