Post-playing Mal Meninga

1 post-playing

1.1 political career
1.2 coaching career

1.2.1 canberra
1.2.2 prime minister s xiii
1.2.3 queensland
1.2.4 australia

post-playing

mal meninga meeting school students in vanuatu in 2005.

following retirement mal meninga openly supported super league concept during super league war of mid-1990s. popularity , playing record domestic , international captain valuable in raising profile of rebel competition. in 1995 meninga s book mal meninga: life in football published. appointed head coach of old club, canberra raiders in australia s super league season in 1997.

political career

meninga briefly campaigned independent seat in australian capital territory legislative assembly during territory s 2001 general election, informally aligned socially conservative, pro-life grouping of paul osborne, mla brindabella. on monday, 24 september 2001, after declared candidacy electorate of molonglo, pulled out mid-sentence, stating, , thing is, guess, public figure , put on podium person out there ... m buggered, m sorry, have resign.

subsequently, incident led satirical chaser team instituting mal award election television shows, presented politicians greatest act of political suicide during election campaign . in episode, aired on 28 november 2007, meninga satirized himself when brought in present award gave mid-speech.

coaching career
canberra

meninga appointed coach of raiders in 1997, succeeding 3 time winner tim sheens, achieved moderate success. in 2000, meninga awarded australian sports medal contribution australia s international standing in rugby league. following year, received centenary medal service role model , inspiration rugby league player of highest standard . after canberra failed make finals of 2001 nrl season, finishing fourth-last (11th out of 14 teams), matthew elliott replaced meninga raiders coach.

in late 2002, meninga expressed interest in queensland state of origin team coaching job.

during 2003 rugby union world cup, wales assistant coach scott johnson got meninga assist pre-match preparation speaking players , presenting them jerseys.

meninga left canberra , returned queensland in 2005, opening several successful businesses, including fruit , vegetable wholesale business in brisbane markets, , several strathfield car sound outlets. in late 2005, announced new queensland state of origin coach, replace michael hagan.

prime minister s xiii

meninga (right) adrian lam during tenure coach of prime minister s xiii in 2012.

from 2005 2012, meninga served coach of australian prime minister s xiii. during tenure, meninga coached pm s xiii in 8 matches, winning 7 , drawing 1. succeeded coach of pm s xiii new south wales coach laurie daley.

queensland

meninga made successful début maroons coach in 2006 state of origin series, guiding queensland 2-1 series victory, first outright series victory since 2001 (this despite fact queensland lost first match). in 2006, coached prime minister s xiii side victory on papua new guinea national rugby league team. meninga attended 2007 challenge cup final, in old club st helens playing, @ wembley stadium guest of honour. on 13 october 2006, meninga reappointed coach of maroons 2007 state of origin series , 2008 state of origin series, both of queensland won, taking record maroons 3 wins 3 series. when meninga given new contract after 2008 series, quoted saying: want win 6 [state of origin series] in row . in 2009 series, queensland won first 2 games giving them record fourth consecutive series win captain darren lockyer saying meninga stands among legends in state of origin. in december 2009, meninga named coach of year @ queensland sports awards.

in 2010, meninga coached queensland fifth straight series win, , regarded greatest , successful origin coach in history. coached them first clean sweep since 2000. in 2011, meninga achieved sixth straight series coach of queensland honoring promise made in 2008. weekend after queensland won sixth straight series, mal meninga penned column in brisbane s sunday mail attacking nsw media , match review panel, , labelling them rats , filth after believed [the nsw media] had tried sabotage side s attempts @ winning sixth successive series charging johnathan thurston , david taylor on-field incidents (only latter suspended) , attacking nsw coach ricky stuart on decision not reveal blues line-up 1 hour before kick-off (which when official team lists must released prior match). set face legal action nrl s match review panel on controversial column, after negotiations them on 1 august 2011, matter resolved. meninga still maintains has written. 2013 state of origin series new south wales appointed laurie daley coach against meninga. third consecutive opponent of meninga in state of origin coaching have been teammate of 1990 winfield cup grand final-winning canberra side. in 2013, meninga achieved eighth consecutive series win queensland state of origin team.

meninga s record-breaking winning streak ended blues win in 2014 state of origin series. maroons, however, still scored more points blues across 3 matches.

in 2015 state of origin series coached queensland ninth series win in ten years, decider played @ suncorp stadium in brisbane on july 8, 2015 queensland recording both largest score , biggest victory margin 52-6 victory.

australia

on 2 december 2015, meninga appointed head coach of australian national rugby league team, succeeding tim sheens. this, however, meant had resign post queensland origin coach (following events during 1985 kangaroo tour of new zealand, australian rugby league had decided australian coach not current state of origin coach), ending successful origin coaching stint in nrl history. rumoured appointment of meninga national coach nswrl uncooperative , anzac test of 2016, rumour seems wholly unfounded. before appointment mal announced ambitions wanted international game become pinnacle of rugby league in playing days. prior test, meninga created controversy around rugby league world after selecting fijian born player semi radradra, eligible due living in australia 3 years, in team on other homegrown australian players. radradra, represented fiji @ 2013 world cup, still had fijian passport @ time , brought question of changing eligibility rules in international rugby league. meninga s selection questioned ambition raised of wanting make international game pinnacle of game, meninga argued think s right? rules can play australia .