Mal Meninga

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Mal Meninga

Personal information
Full name	Malcolm Norman Meninga AM
Date of birth	8 July 1960 (1960-07-08) (age 47)
Place of birth	Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia
Height	182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	116 kg (18 st 4 lb)
Nickname(s)	Big Mal, Chicken George
Club information
Position(s)	Centre
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
Years	Club
	Wide Bay
Senior clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
1978–1984 1984–1985 1986–1994	Souths Magpies St Helens Canberra Raiders	31 (128) 166 (864)
Representative teams
1979–1994 1982–1994	Queensland Australia	32 (161) 45 (272)
Professional clubs coached
1997–2001	Canberra Raiders
Representative teams coached
2006 2006–	Prime Minister's XIII Queensland
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only.

Malcolm Norman Meninga AM (born 8 July, 1960 in Bundaberg, Queensland) is an Australian rugby league personality. As a player he was a legendary centre, counted amongst the best players of the 20th century. As a coach he has held the mentor position with the Canberra Raiders and is now the current coach of the Queensland State of Origin team.

Meninga broke numerous rugby league records during his playing career. He has made the most appearances and scored the most points of any player in the green and gold jersey and is the top-point scorer for Queensland in State of Origin history. Meninga has since been honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia, has been inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame and selected for the Team of the Century.

[edit] Early life

Born in Bundaberg, Queensland, Meninga is an Australian South Sea Islander, a descendant of plantation workers recruited or blackbirded to work in the Queensland sugar industry in the late 19th century. He is an official spokesperson for the South Sea Islander community.^[1]

[edit] Playing career

[edit] BRL

Meninga made his Brisbane Rugby League premiership first grade debut at the age of 18 with Souths Magpies. He first played for his state in 1979, and the following year helped Queensland to a win in the first ever Rugby League State of Origin match against New South Wales, converting seven goals from seven attempts (Meninga was one of the last players to use the kicking style of punting the end of the football with the toe of the boot). In 1981 he enjoyed premiership success with the Magpies. The following year he was named man-of-the-match in Game 1 of the State of Origin and later in the year toured Europe with the undefeated 1982 Invincibles.

[edit] England

Mal Meninga, the 16 stone Australian centre three-quarter became a Saint for the 1984/85 campaign. St Helens had paid around £30,000 for his services to play in the Australian off-season. ^[2]

Mal Meninga didn't manage to serve a second spell at Knowsley Road, for a variety of reasons, not least a succession of injuries, that also punctuated his career for Canberra Raiders and Australia. Yet he remains a legendary figure in international Rugby League, remembered for his formidable power, pace and handling ability.

[edit] NSWRL

In 1986, Meninga joined the Canberra Raiders where he was to play all of his New South Wales Rugby League premiership games, after many seasons and two (1981, 1985) premierships with Souths Magpies in the Brisbane Premiership. He led Canberra to their first premiership in 1989 after overcoming the highly fancied Balmain Tigers in the Grand Final. The following year Meninga led the Raiders to another grand final victory against the Penrith Panthers. He was also 1990's top try-scorer and top-point scorer, and was named as Rugby League Week's player of the year. On Australia Day 1994 Meninga was made a Member of the Order of Australia "for service to rugby league football".

Big Mal captained Australia for 23 Test matches between 1990 and 1994, and captained the Queensland State of Origin team for three years from 1992 to 1994. He remains the only player to captain a Kangaroo Tour on two occasions, in 1990 and 1994.

Meninga played his last game for the Canberra Raiders in the 1994 Grand Final where he led his team to victory over the Canterbury Bulldogs and to their third premiership in six years, scoring the last try of the match. On December 4, 1994 at Béziers, France, he captained Australia to a 74-0 victory over the French, scoring the final try of the game, and of his career.

Mal Meninga openly supported the Super League concept during the Super League war of the mid-1990s. His popularity and playing record as a domestic and international captain were valuable in raising the profile of the rebel competition.

[edit] Coaching career

Meninga was appointed coach of the Raiders in 1997, succeeding three time winner Tim Sheens, but achieved only moderate success. In 2000 Meninga was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league. The following year he received the Centenary Medal "for service as a role model and inspiration as a rugby league player of the highest standard". Matthew Elliott replaced Meninga as the Raiders coach in 2002.

Meninga left Canberra and returned to Queensland in 2005 opening several successful business' including a fruit and vegetable wholesale business in the Brisbane Markets, and several Strathfield Car Sound outlets. In late 2005, he was announced as the new Queensland State of Origin coach, replacing Michael Hagan. He made a successful debut as the Maroons coach in the 2006 Rugby League State of Origin series, guiding Queensland to a 2-1 series victory, its first outright series victory since 2001.

Also in 2006, Meninga coached the Prime Minister's XIII side to victory over the Papua New Guinea Kumuls.

On October 13, 2006 he was reappointed as coach of the Maroons for the 2007 Rugby League State of Origin series and 2008 Rugby League State of Origin series.^[3]

Mal Meninga attended the 2007 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium as a guest of honour. ^[4]

[edit] Records

• Most Tests played for Australia (45)
• Only player to twice captain a Kangaroo Tour (1990 and 1994).
• Most points scored in Test matches for Australia (272 - 21 tries, 96 goals)
• Most goals kicked in Test matches for Australia (96)

[edit] Honours

The main grandstand at Bruce Stadium in Canberra is named the "Mal Meninga Stand" in his honour.

In February 2008, Meninga was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908-2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.^[5][6] Meninga went on to be named as one of the centres, along with Reg Gasnier, in Australian rugby league's Team of the Century. Announced on 17 April 2008, the team is the panels' majority choice for each of the thirteen starting positions and four interchange players.^[7][8]

[edit] Political career

Meninga gained some unwanted notoriety in 2001, when an attempted political career lasted a mere 28 seconds. Becoming fazed in his first radio interview, he resigned on-air shortly after the broadcast commenced ^[9]. This incident led to the satirical Chaser team instituting the 'Mal Award' for their The Election Chaser & The Chaser Decides television shows; presented to politicians "for the greatest act of political suicide during an election campaign".^[10] In the episode on November 28, 2007, Mal himself was brought in to present the award but gave up mid-speech.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mal Meninga at the Former Origin Greats website.
• Mal Meninga at the State of Origin official website.
• Mal Meninga at eraofthebiff.com
• Mal Meninga Biography
• Saints Heritage Society profile
• Rugby League's Mal Meninga at abc.net.au