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In 2010, Meninga coached Queensland to a record 5th straight series win, and is now regarded as one of the greatest and most successful Origin coaches in history. He also coached them to their first "Clean Sweep" since 1995 and Queensland are now hot favourites to keep winning State of Origin for at least the next two years.
In 2010, Meninga coached Queensland to a record 5th straight series win, and is now regarded as one of the greatest and most successful Origin coaches in history. He also coached them to their first "Clean Sweep" since 1995 and Queensland are now hot favourites to keep winning State of Origin for at least the next two years.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}


==Records==
==Records==

Revision as of 09:18, 19 October 2010

Mal Meninga
Personal information
Full nameMalcolm Norman Meninga
Playing information
Height182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight116 kg (18 st 4 lb)
PositionCentre, Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1978–1984 Souths (Brisbane)
1984–1985 St Helens 31 28 8 0 128
1986–1994 Canberra Raiders 166 74 283 2 864
Total 197 102 291 2 992
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1979–1994 Queensland 32 6 69 0 161
1982–1994 Australia 46 21 96 0 272
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
1997–2001 Canberra Raiders 125 66 2 57 53
Representative
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2006– Queensland 11 8 0 3 73

Malcolm Norman Meninga AM (born 8 July 1960) is an Australian former rugby league test captain and current coach of Queensland's State of Origin team. As a player he was a legendary goal-kicking centre, counted amongst the finest footballers of the 20th century. He went on to coach for five seasons in the NRL with the Canberra Raiders and has been coach of Queensland's State of Origin team since 2006, having not yet lost a series.

Meninga broke numerous rugby league records during his playing career. He retired with the most appearances, and most points for the Australian rugby league team, and became 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 has also been named at centre in both Queensland's and Australia's rugby league teams of the century.

Early life

Born in Bundaberg, Queensland, Graduated from Maroochydore High School, 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] Before becoming a full-time professional footballer, Meninga was a police cadet. [citation needed]

Playing career

BRL

Meninga made his first grade debut in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership at the age of 18 with Souths Magpies. From there he was first selected to play centre for Queensland in 1979[2], and the following year helped his state 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). Later that year he played in the Magpies' BRL Premiership grand final loss, scoring a try and kicking 3 goals. However, in 1981 Meninga again reached the grand final with Souths and won. The following year he was named man-of-the-match in Game 1 of the State of Origin and then toured Europe with the undefeated 1982 "Invincibles" Kangaroo squad.

England

Mal Meninga 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[3]. Meninga didn't manage to serve a second spell at Knowsley Road, for a variety of reasons, not least being 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.

NSWRL

After many seasons and two (1981, 1985) premierships with the Magpies in the Brisbane League, in 1986, Meninga joined Souths teammate Gary Belcher at the Canberra Raiders, where they would play all of their New South Wales Rugby League premiership games. Meninga played in Canberra's loss to Manly in the 1987 Grand Final, kicking one goal. After being given the Raiders' captaincy, 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. Also that year, Meninga was named Britain's BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, the first rugby league player to win it.

Big Mal captained Australia for 23 Test matches between 1990 and 1994[4], 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.

On Australia Day 1994 Meninga was made a Member of the Order of Australia "for service to rugby league football". Later that year he 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 4 December 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.

Post-playing

Following his retirement Mal Meninga openly supported the Super League concept during the Super League war of the mid-1990s[5]. His popularity and playing record as a domestic and international captain were valuable in raising the profile of the rebel competition. In 1995 Meninga's book Mal Meninga: My Life in Football was published. He was appointed head coach of his old club, the Canberra Raiders in Australia's Super League season in 1997.

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 [6]. This incident led to the satirical Chaser team instituting the 'Mal Award' for their The Election Chaser, The Chaser Decides and Yes We Canberra! television shows; presented to politicians "for the greatest act of political suicide during an election campaign".[7] In the episode on 28 November 2007, Mal satirized himself when brought in to present the award but "gave up" mid-speech.

Coaching career

Canberra

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.

In late 2002 Meninga expressed interest in the Queensland state of Origin team coaching job.[8]

Meninga left Canberra and returned to Queensland in 2005 opening several successful businesses, 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, to replace Michael Hagan.

Queensland

Meninga made a successful debut as the Maroons coach in the 2006 State of Origin series, guiding Queensland to a 2–1 series victory, its first outright series victory since 2001 (this despite the fact Queensland lost the first match). Also in 2006, he coached the Prime Minister's XIII side to victory over the Papua New Guinea Kumuls.

Meninga attended the 2007 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium as a guest of honour.[9]

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[10], both of which Queensland won, taking his record with the Maroons to three wins from three series. When Meninga was given a new contract after the 2008 series, he was quoted as saying: "I want to win six [State of Origin series] in a row" [11].

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.[12]

In December 2009, Meninga was named coach of the year at the Queensland Sports Awards.[13]

In 2010, Meninga coached Queensland to a record 5th straight series win, and is now regarded as one of the greatest and most successful Origin coaches in history. He also coached them to their first "Clean Sweep" since 1995 and Queensland are now hot favourites to keep winning State of Origin for at least the next two years.[citation needed]

Records

  • 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)
  • Most goals kicked in a State of Origin match for Queensland (7 in Game 1 1980), shared with Johnathan Thurston
  • Most State of Origins won as coach in a row. 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010(5)

Honours

The main grandstand at Canberra Stadium is named the "Mal Meninga Stand" in his honour. The Canberra Raiders' player of the year receives the Mal Meninga Medal in his honour and a statue of him has been built behind his grandstand next to the one of Laurie Daley.[14]

In 2003 he was admitted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame [15].

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.[16][17] 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.[18][19]

In June 2008, he was chosen in the Queensland Rugby League's Team of the Century at centre.[20]

Further reading

  • David Campese, Peter Jenkins, Mal Meninga, Peter Frilingos (1994). My game, your game. Ironbark. ISBN 033035616X, 9780330356169. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

References

  1. ^ "Islanders' sporting prowess". Retrieved 4 July 2007.
  2. ^ Toby Creswell and Samantha Trenoweth (2006). 1001 Australians You Should Know. Australia: Pluto Press. p. 690. ISBN 1864033614, 9781864033618. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ "Meninga Saints Heritage Society". Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  4. ^ Hagan, Stephen (2006). Australia's Blackest Sporting Moments: The Top 100. Ngalga Warralu Publishing Pty Ltd. p. 288. ISBN 1921212004, 9781921212000. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Headon, David (October 1999). "Up From the Ashes: The Phoenix of a Rugby League Literature" (pdf). Football Studies Volume 2, Issue 2. Football Studies Group. Retrieved 7 July 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ "Meninga sidesteps politics". The World Today, ABC Radio. 24 September 2005.
  7. ^ "Mal Award". The Chaser.
  8. ^ AAP Sports News (17 October 2002). "Meninga keen for Australian or Queensland coaching job". Australia. Retrieved 27 December 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  9. ^ "Big Mal welcomes the squad". Saints. 23 August 2007. Retrieved 25 August 2007.
  10. ^ "Meninga stays with the Maroons". Retrieved 13 October 2006.
  11. ^ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/rugby-league/state-of-origin/nsw-need-look-no-further-than-queensland-plan-20100618-ymqj.html NSW need look no further than Queensland plan - Brisbane Times
  12. ^ "Meninga's Origin culture created history: Lockyer". Retrieved 25 June 2009.
  13. ^ deKroo, Karl (4 December 2009). "Wally Lewis says Maroons okay without Darren Lockyer". The Courier Mail. Australia: Queensland Newspapers. Retrieved 5 December 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  14. ^ Peter Fitzgerald (11 September 2008). "Mighty Mal makes monumental mark". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 11 September 2008.
  15. ^ Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame
  16. ^ Peter Cassidy (23 February 2008). "Controversy reigns as NRL releases top 100 players". Macquarie National News. Retrieved 23 February 2008. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ "Centenary of Rugby League – The Players". NRL & ARL. 23 February 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ Todd Balym (17 April 2008). "Johns, Meninga among Immortals". Fox Sports Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2008. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ "Team of the Century Announced". NRL & ARL. 17 April 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ Ricketts, Steve (10 June 2008). "Locky named No.1 but Wal's still King". The Courier-Mail. Archived from the original on 20 May 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2009.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Canberra Raiders captain
1989–94 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Tim Sheens
1988–1996
 Coach
Canberra Raiders
1997–2001 		Succeeded by
Matthew Elliott
2002–2006
Preceded by
Michael Hagan
2004–2005
 Coach
Queensland
State of Origin
2006– 		Succeeded by
incumbent

Template:Persondata

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