Broncos coach Michael "Madge" Maguire will have channelled World War II American General George S Patton in the lead up to Sunday's NRL grand final, convincing himself and his troops that he knows the battle plan of his opposite, Storm coach Craig Bellamy.

In the 1980 movie "Patton", the US general nicknamed "Old Blood and Guts" surveys a formation of German tanks in the north African desert under the command of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.

Patton says, "Rommel, you magnificent bastard. I've read your book."

Just as Patton believed he could anticipate Rommel's tactics, Maguire, who served five years as Bellamy's assistant in Melbourne, likes to think he can read his old boss like a book.

However, the movie scene is a Hollywood invention, as is much of Madge's psychological warfare. Pat

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