Education
He finished the season with 7 tries from 21 games, alternating between centre, wing and bench.
He finished the season with 7 tries from 21 games, alternating between centre, wing and bench.
He played for Salford City Reds in the United Kingdom Super League, the Western Suburbs Magpies, Wests Tigers and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) competition. His position of choice is at centre. While attending Sarah Redfern High School, McGuinness played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 1995.
McGuinness was graded to Western Suburbs on 7 May 1995 when he was 18, playing from the bench against the Penrith Panthers.
He played two more games as a reserve, before playing as halfback in two games late in the season, both losses. McGuinness started 1996 as a centre.
He was chosen as a reserve in the qualifying final loss against Cronulla, in what was to be the Magpies last ever finals appearance. Starting 1997 from the bench, McGuinness showed his versatility by playing centre, five-eighth and hooker at different times during the season.
From round 10 he scored 9 tries in 10 games.
In the next two years, he played in every game for the Magpies. In what were poor seasons for the club, he managed 21 tries. In 1999, he was the club"s leading try-scorer.
He played in all 24 games, scoring a personal best 14 tries.
At the start of 2001, McGuinness scored 5 tries in the first three games. His fortune soon changed when he, along with fellow Tiger, Craig Field, was banned by the NRL for six months after testing positive to illegal substances.
After undergoing counselling, McGuinness returned to premier league two months before the ban was lifted and was back with the first grade team for round 23 against the Newcastle Knights at Campbelltown Stadium, where he scored a try. McGuinness set the record for the most tries scored in a match by a Wests Tigers player on 4 August 2002, when he scored 4 tries against Souths.
In 2004, after a season at Manly, McGuinness moved to the Salford City Reds.
In 2011, he joined the Queanbeyan Blues in Canberra"s Group 8. First Grade Debut: 1995 - Round 9, Western Suburbs vs Penrith Panthers at Penrith Stadium, 7 May.
With the Western Suburbs Magpies merging with the Balmain Tigers for the 2000 season, McGuinness was a member of the new formed Wests Tigers.