[15] After again playing a leading role for Queensland in their third straight Origin series win over NSW, Meninga missed the first Ashes test against the touring Great Britain side, but was recalled to the team for the second and third tests of the series which Australia again won 3–0. [citation needed]. Meninga's good form continued in 1991, helping Queensland to win the Origin series (Wally Lewis retained the Qld captaincy) before leading Australia to a 2–1 series win over New Zealand in the mid-season tests. [6][32] Before his appointment Mal announced his ambitions that he wanted the International game to become the pinnacle of rugby league like it was in his playing days.[33]. It was during his time in the police force that Meninga met Wayne Bennett, who was serving as a constable at the time and would become one of Meninga's key mentors. Meninga continued his good form for Souths in 1985, playing in their 10–8 Grand Final win over Wynnum-Manly. We can’t really call it a career though, given it lasted about as long as the 200m athletics final at the Olympics. [citation needed]. In a test career of 46 games for Australia, Mal Meninga scored a total of 278 points (21 tries, 99 goals). MAL Meninga’s political career lasted only seconds and has made him a punchline for the rest of his life. All these questions you get asked there’s two or three answers (you have prepared),” Meninga said on Fox Sports program Queenslanders Only. number 4, and scored 2-tries in St. Helens 28–16 victory over Wigan in the 1984 Lancashire County Cup Final during the 1984–85 season at Central Park, Wigan on Sunday 28 October 1984. On his four Kangaroo Tours as a player, Meninga holds the distinction in playing in every test for Australia on tour, playing all six tests in both 1982 and 1986, all five in 1990, and all four in 1994. The first Australian juggernaut.... Make sure to leave a like and subscribe,for more :) He toured with the Kangaroos in 1982, 1986, 1990 and 1994, appearing in every test match against Great Britain and France on all four tours. “I’d been doing all this preparation for six weeks prior about all these questions. [27] In the 2009 series, Queensland won the first two games giving them a record fourth consecutive series win with captain Darren Lockyer saying Meninga now stands among the legends in State of Origin. It’s somewhat ironic given some of our public servants are renowned for reneging on promises. St Helens' rivals Wigan were also after him and had papers ready for him to sign. IT’S the Mal Meninga story that will never die. As he also had scored a try at Wembley, Meninga joined legendary Australian winger Ken Irvine (1963), and unlikely try scorer, Queensland and Canberra Prop Sam Backo (1988) as the only Australian's to score a try in each test of an Ashes series. FOLLOW UP: Real Liberals Candidate Toni Kipa has announced she will fully support her recently paroled uncle, Bevan Meninga. Sign up. On 2 December 2015, Meninga was appointed as the head coach of the Australian national rugby league team, succeeding Tim Sheens. With the scores locked at 4–4 after two penalty goals each, Meninga intercepted a Bobbie Goulding pass only 20 metres from his own line and raced 70 metres downfield, with flying Lions winger Martin Offiah bearing down on him. This was the third consecutive opponent of Meninga in State of Origin coaching to have been a teammate of the 1990 Winfield Cup Grand Final-winning Canberra side. Australia again lost the first test against Great Britain at Wembley Stadium, but changes made to the team by coach Bob Fulton saw the Kangaroos bounce back with a vengeance in the second test at Old Trafford with a 38–8 win. [39], The main grandstand at Canberra Stadium is named the "Mal Meninga Stand" in his honour. However, in 1981 Meninga again reached the grand final with Souths who defeated the Redcliffe Dolphins 13–9. Meninga broke numerous rugby league records during his playing career. Mal Meninga's incredibly short political career gets a mention this week and the team also takes a look at the NRL Grand Final. All times AEST (GMT +10). Meninga's form continued though, captaining Queensland in the 1992 State of Origin series (NSW won 2–1) as well as Australia's successful Ashes defence against the touring Great Britain Lions. Mark Bosnich earns the honour of the cult profile thanks to his hilarious laugh, meanwhile Beast is clearly very excited about the NBL. In his first interview as a candidate he just folded: MAL MENINGA: I was … I’m buggered. Community 5 likes. Halfback Ricky Stuart badly broke and dislocated his right ankle in the second half and despite a club record 68–0 win, without their halfback and chief play maker, the Raiders fell apart. [7][8] His father, Norman Meninga, also played rugby league. Mal Meninga admits he could understand if Cameron Smith walked away from rugby league immediately, labelling criticism of the Melbourne star as "un-Australian". IT’S the Mal Meninga story that will never die. I'm buggered, I'm sorry, I have to resign. [17] Meninga didn't manage to serve a second spell at Knowsley Road, for a variety of reasons, not least being a succession of injuries (three broken arms suffered in 1987 and 1988 respectively) that also punctuated his career in Australia. "[37], Subsequently, this incident led to the satirical Chaser team instituting the 'Mal Award' for their election television shows, presented to politicians "for the greatest act of political suicide during an election campaign". I’m sorry. After just 4 games back for the Raiders, Meninga played for Australia in their record 70–8 win over Papua New Guinea at Wagga Wagga in country NSW, scoring two tries. Smith is yet to confirm if he will return for a 19th season next year, with Melbourne teammates still in the dark on whether he will play on. Meninga though was forced to miss the first test at the Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland as he had been suspended for 2 weeks for the use of an elbow to Manly-Warringah's Welsh import centre John Devereux in the Raiders Round 10 match with the Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval. He was succeeded as coach of the PM's XIII by New South Wales coach Laurie Daley. At the end of the 1991 season after the Raiders had lost 19–12 to Penrith in the Grand Final, Meninga captained the Australians for their tour of Papua New Guinea which included a 2–0 test series win over the Kumuls. Additionally he is one of five players, along with Wally Lewis, Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny and Gene Miles, who were members of the undefeated 1982 and 1986 tours, known as 'the Invincibles' and 'the Unbeatables' respectively. After Canberra's salary cap problems at the end of 1991 which saw them lose a number of fringe players as well as some veterans (though most, including Meninga, agreed to actually take a pay cut in order to keep the side together), the Raiders missed the finals for the first time since 1986 when they finished 12th in 1992. No matter what his heroics playing for Canberra, Queensland and Australia were, his legacy will always carry with it the side story of his infamous political career. On Australia Day 1994, Meninga was made a Member of the Order of Australia "for service to rugby league football". AAP He added that the anthem doesn’t need to include an Indigenous language, but a song that is all inclusive. Mal Meninga was born on 8 July, 1960 in Bundaberg Central, Australia, is an Australian rugby league footballer and coach for Australia. Meninga's broken arms saw him play only 17 games for the Raiders in 1987 and 1988. The following year, he received the Centenary Medal "for service as a role model and inspiration as a rugby league footballer of the highest standard". On an unseasonably warm day, Meninga's lack of match fitness since his return told (he had only played 60 minutes of the Preliminary final win over Eastern Suburbs the week before) and he was finally replaced by Raiders reserve back Kevin Walters midway through the second half. A NOTE ABOUT RELEVANT ADVERTISING: We collect information about the content (including ads) you use across this site and use it to make both advertising and content more relevant to you on our network and other sites. The Canberra Raiders' player of the year receives the Mal Meninga Medal in his honour since 2008 and a statue of him has been placed behind the Mal Meninga grandstand next to the one of Laurie Daley. [19] At the end of the 1994 season, Meninga was selected for his record fourth Kangaroo Tour and his record second as captain when he went on the 1994 Kangaroo tour. Meninga attended the 2007 Challenge Cup Final, in which his old club St Helens was playing, at Wembley Stadium as a guest of honour. Fittingly, Mal scored the last try of the match after taking an intercept and outpacing Bulldogs centre Jarrod McCracken to score beside the posts (amazingly, despite being a noted goal kicker throughout his career, Meninga declined to take what would have been an easy shot at goal and left it to the team's regular kicker David Furner). Former Queensland centre Justin Hodges said when Meninga became coach of the Maroons the players, while wary at first, made sure everyone knew about their mentor’s embarrassing backflip. Meninga still maintains what he has written. A spot in the NRL top four beckons for Canberra this weekend, but Raiders great Mal Meninga believes the Green Machine should be aiming even higher despite an injury-ravaged 2020. 6 years ago | 218 views. Despite suffering a broken arm in a sickening collision with the goal posts in the Raider's Round 10 match with Manly-Warringah at the Raiders then home ground Seiffert Oval and subsequently missing 10 weeks (including Queensland's successful 1987 State of Origin series and the one-off test loss against New Zealand), Meninga returned to play in Canberra's 18–8 loss to Manly in that year's Grand Final at the SCG, the last ever Grand Final to be held at the ground. As a coach, he began with the Canberra Raiders, before coaching Queensland to nine State of Origin titles between 2006 and 2015. Most points scored in Test matches for Australia (272 – 21 tries, 96 goals) – since surpassed by, Most goals kicked in Test matches for Australia (96) – since surpassed by Johnathan Thurston, Most goals kicked in a State of Origin match for Queensland (7 in Game 1 1980) – since surpassed by Johnathan Thurston, Most State of Origins won as coach in a row. [50], Australian rugby league footballer and coach for Australia, CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (, Queensland Rugby League Team of the Century, 2016 Rugby League Four Nations (third title), 2017 Rugby League World Cup Champions (11th Title), BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, Papua New Guinea national rugby league team, Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, Queensland Rugby League's Team of the Century, "Mal Meninga – Career Stats & Summary – Rugby League Project", "Mal Meninga to be appointed new Kangaroos coach", "Why coaching State of Origin is not the toughest job Mal Meninga will have this week", https://maroochyshs.eq.edu.au/Ourschool/History/Pages/History.aspx, https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/sport/11200052.flashback-to-the-1985-premiership-final-nine-local-lads-and-the-wizard-of-aus/, "Weekend Interview: Legend Mal Meninga continues his 'love affair' with England", "NSWRL 1990 – Round 5 – Rugby League Project", "Up From the Ashes: The Phoenix of a Rugby League Literature", "Meninga keen for Australian or Queensland coaching job", http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/rugby-league/state-of-origin/nsw-need-look-no-further-than-queensland-plan-20100618-ymqj.html, "Meninga's Origin culture created history: Lockyer", "Wally Lewis says Maroons okay without Darren Lockyer", Meninga's fury at NSW 'rats and filth' – Sports News First, Feeling Blue or Blue skies ahead? COMPERE, CHRIS UHLMANN: That’s all right. Johanne Teel. Plenty of celebrities have dabbled in politics with varying degrees of success. Petition for Mal Meninga to consider re-entering politics. He enjoyed a long career in both Australia and England, playing mainly as a goal-kicking centre, but also on the wing. Rugby league fans have forced the toughest conversations of Mal Meninga's career on the iconic Queenslander after picking him as player-coach for the all-time Maroons side. After Canberra failed to make the finals of the 2001 NRL season, finishing fourth-last (11th out of 14 teams), Matthew Elliott replaced Meninga as the Raiders coach. After the Kangaroos' shock 19–12 loss in the first Ashes test against Great Britain at Wembley Stadium, Australia won the next two tests at Old Trafford and Elland Road to wrap up the series. A second broken arm before the start of the 1988 NSWRL season saw Meninga missing until Round 15. He became coach of Australia in 2016 and led the Kangaroos to win the 2017 World Cup. His popularity and playing record as a domestic and international captain were valuable in raising the profile of the rebel competition. Canberra finished third after the minor round, and were premiership favourites until their fateful Round 21 match with the hapless Parramatta Eels at Bruce Stadium. For the 2013 State of Origin series New South Wales appointed Laurie Daley to coach against Meninga. The Maroons, however, still scored more points than the Blues across all three matches.[31]. On 1 August 2018 Meninga was named the 13th Immortal. The first hard-hitting question asked by the journalistic sharks of Canberra’s press corps was something along the lines of “So, Big Mal, why have you decided to enter politics?” Meninga began his answer well: “I’m just a person out there…” The rest of Mal’s answer, though, would probably be best described as “unstatesman-like”. After being given the Raiders' captaincy, Meninga led Canberra to their first premiership in 1989 after overcoming the Balmain Tigers 19–14 in extra time in the Grand Final, the Raiders becoming not only the first non-Sydney team to win the premiership, but also the first team to win after finishing the minor round in 4th place. Rugby legend and political heavy-hitter Mal Meninga has spoken out praising professional dumpster fire and newly former presidential nominee Kanye West after his ‘impressive’ 10-day campaign for office. Mal Meninga poses for a photograph on the Gold Coast. Following his retirement Mal Meninga openly supported the Super League concept during the Super League war of the mid-1990s. [47], In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, Mal Meninga was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for his role as a "sports legend". Meninga was appointed coach of the Raiders in 1997, succeeding three-time winner Tim Sheens, but achieved only moderate success. After his displays on the 1982 Kangaroo tour, Meninga was in high demand with English club sides. Nationwide News Pty Limited Copyright © 2021. [43][44] Meninga went on to be named as one of the centres, along with Reg Gasnier, in Australian rugby league's Team of the Century. Meninga would score the opening try of the Kangaroo Tour in the first game against his old club St Helens at Knowsley Road. [25] On 13 October 2006, Meninga was reappointed as coach of the Maroons for the 2007 State of Origin series and 2008 State of Origin series,[26] both of which Queensland won, taking his record with the Maroons to three wins from three series. During the 44–12 third test win at Lang Park, Meninga broke Michael Cronin's Kangaroos point scoring record. Bevan Meninga was aged 19 when he was convicted in 1992 of the murder of Sunshine Coast teenager Cheree Richardson. At the end of the 1990 NSWRL season Meninga led the Raiders to another Grand final victory against the Penrith Panthers. 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