An email dropped in Michael Maguire's inbox this week with a good luck video message from staff and players at Wigan ahead of Sunday's NRL grand final.
It was a demonstration of the high esteem the South Sydney boss is still held at the club where he cut his teeth as a head coach in a successful two-year spell.
Much like Souths, Wigan were a club living off former glories when Maguire walked through the door late in 2009.
While names like Sattler, McCarthy and Churchill roll wistfully off the tongue of Rabbitohs' fans, Edwards, Offiah and Hanley do the same in Wigan - the dominant side of the English game in the late 80s and early 90s.
But it'd been over a decade since they last won a premiership and little was expected when the largely-unknown former Melbourne Storm assistant coach was appointed.
Fast forward five years and Maguire will struggle to buy himself a beer in the rugby league-obsessed town when he next returns after lifting the club from the doldrums to win a Super League premiership and the Challenge Cup.
"The whole club had slipped into a comfort zone and 'Madge' came in and ruffled a few feathers," Maguire's former right-hand man, Great Britain and star Wigan fullback Kris Radlinski, told AAP.
"He got rid of certain people and brought in those who shared similar values to himself.
"He worked ridiculously long hours when he first arrived and went through every aspect of the club.
"He was always at his computer, always studying and didn't have much of a social life - his job is his life, his passion."
Proof of Maguire's attention to detail emerged this week when it was revealed Souths players were using blood-energising chips to allow players to keep cooler during games.
Radlinski said looking outside the square is a huge part of Maguire's success and his desire to control every single aspect of his team even extended to charming the players' wives.
"We were heading into the finals and 'Madge' invited all of the wives around to his house for dinner," he said.
"He's laid on this big spread, bought them all flowers, then told them it was to make up for not seeing much of their husbands for the next six weeks.
"They went away happy, the lads were happy because the wives were happy and we went on to win the premiership."
Radlinski said it surprised no one when South Sydney lured Maguire back home in 2011 and expects him to become the first Rabbitohs coach since Clive Churchill to lead the club to the promised land against Canterbury.
"It was always his dream to coach in the NRL and the job he has done at Souths shows he's an outstanding coach," he said.
"He was always looking at ways to do things differently. He would go and speak to business leaders and pick their brains.
"He doesn't know much about football, but he found a way to meet Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and somehow persuaded him to come in and talk to our players.
"Fergie doesn't usually do stuff like that, but he was there for over an hour and the lads were transfixed as he told stories about Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane.
"There will be a lot of people in Wigan up and about early on Sunday morning watching the NRL final and cheering on Souths.
"We'll feel a bit of pride if they win because we did our little bit to help Madge on his way."
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