1948 was the sole year of Maxwell's controversial representative career. His only state appearance for
New South Wales was in the first match of that year's interstate series against Queensland. When the
Australian Test side was chosen for the domestic series against New Zealand Maxwell was named as a reserve back and did not figure in the Tests. He had been dropped from the New South Wales squad before the end of the interstate series and on the night the
Kangaroo Tour side was announced Maxwell wasn't in Sydney with the other representative hopefuls having already left on a train bound for Newcastle. Inexplicably Maxwell was not only selected to the tour squad but was named captain and was expected to take on the duty of coaching the squad during the tour of England and France. Whilst Maxwell was a reliable centre whose career had been interrupted by the war and injuries the mystery concerned how the incumbent Test captain
Len Smith who one week earlier had led the Kangaroos to victory over New Zealand was suddenly not good enough to fit into the 28 man touring squad. Theories abounded regarding either religious bigotry from the selectors or coaching politics. See
Selection controversy in
Len Smith. Due to injury and illness Maxwell did not play in the first Test loss against Great Britain at Leeds. He played in 11 minor tour matches and captained Australia in the second Test at Swinton which Great Britain won 16–7. Although Maxwell was a popular captain on Tour the match results were not good. He is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.262. He did not represent at state or national level again. Maxwell's final seasons were as captain-coach of Maitland from 1950 -1952. After football, he ran a newsagency. ==Sources & Footnotes==