Mal Meninga is a name synonymous with rugby league but it is only in recent years that the three-time premiership winner has discovered its origins.
The 13th Immortal spooke with Fox Sports’ Yvonne Sampson in a fascinating sit down for Face-to-Face as Meninga discussed his relationship with Wayne Bennett, how he almost signed with the Dragons and tracking his South Sea Islander heritage in a quest to better understand himself.
Tune in to Face to Face with Mal Meninga at 7.30pm Monday on Fox League 502 or stream on Kayo.
IN WAYNE WE TRUST
Master coach Wayne Bennett has played an integral role in Meninga’s life since he joined the Queensland Police Academy as a 15-year-old.
Bennett was his constable in those early years with one of the pair’s first conversations remarkably centred on rugby league.
“I played rugby league as a kid but I didn’t know how good I was until a big stretchy senior constable said to me ‘oh you play rugby league do you?’ and I said ‘yes constable’ and he sort of turned away and said ‘we’ll see’,” Meninga said.
“That was my first adventure with Wayne Bennett. He was so instrumental in building my self-confidence.
“He said to me I could be anyone or anything I wanted to be as long as I put my mind to it and having that purpose and a mindset that you want to succeed and not be beaten.
“I still goal set today. So those things that he taught me in those early years I still carry with me today.”
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Bennett brought Meninga to Brisbane Rugby League (BRL) club Southern Suburbs (now Souths Magpies) as an 18-year-old in 1979 as the pair forged a successful partnership culminating in the 1985 premiership.
Meninga said Bennett never let him get too far ahead of himself.
“What I remember about getting picked in the Queensland side in ’79 I remember Wayne come up to me and he said, ‘congratulations but I don’t think you deserved it’,” he said.
“Such a Wayne thing and he did it for a purpose, hey, he wanted me to play well and the ‘I’ll prove you wrong’ type of thing.
“It (playing in the BRL) taught you to grow up and I was lucky enough to go straight into first grade for Brisbane Souths at 18 and it toughened me up pretty quick and it took a while honestly — and it was scary,” Meninga said.
“That’s what happened in those days, you’d get king hit and play on.
“Rugby league to me is a combative sport. I’m not saying you have to be a bully, but you’ve got to be really competitive and you’ve got to beat that person on the other side of the field and I learnt that in the BRL.”
ALMOST SIGNING WITH THE DRAGONS
Meninga is arguably known as much for his huge thighs as he is for his prowess on the football field.
The sight of Meninga in full stride running up field and over the top of opposition players is stuff of legend and the 64-year-old knew his hulking frame gave him an edge.
“I was very physical and I was pretty big at those times as well so you get to learn to use your size,” Meninga said.
“Dad was a smart player and was captain-coach and he understood the game. I watched the game intensely and I picked things up and Wayne was such a smart individual coach-wise that I learnt a lot.”
And his physical attributes combined with undeniable skill had him earmarked by Sydney clubs for a move south.
One such offer came from NRL Hall of Famer and Dragons premiership-winning coach Harry Bath who attempted to lure a then teenage Meninga to St George.
“Back in the academy, dad and mum and I met up with Harry Bath from the Dragons so he wanted to take me down there when I was a 17-year-old kid,” Meninga said.
“This is how ambitious I was and what goal-setting does to you and I’ve never really told this story.
“Harry said that he’d bring me up in the lower grades and we’ll eventually get you into first grade. I said to dad and mum afterwards ‘I’m not going there because I’m going to play for Queensland’.”
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And the next year he did just that before going on to be part of the inaugural Queensland State of Origin team in 1980 led by legendary Maroon and the Seventh Immortal Arthur Beetson.
“We had no idea how it (State of Origin) was going to pan out but you could see the passion of Beetson and it was one of the most enjoyable games I’ve ever had,” Meninga said.
“I couldn’t believe the crowd and running out behind Beetson. I remember him writing a letter to me once telling me how proud he was of me for upholding my values and upholding my culture being an Australian South Sea Islander and not deviating from that.
“That was a really powerful message for me and it reinforces things because you respect this man and he’s got an aura about him.
“He set me in a direction around who I was again and to be proud of who I am. You didn’t want to let him down and you didn’t want to let Queensland down.
“You learn those things and that was the catalyst for us young fellas, Wally (Lewis), myself, Kerry Boustead, that made us realise say we’re better than we think we are. We can actually beat these (NSW) fellas.
“And that’s what I preached when I was coaching Queensland.”
MAL’S QUEST FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING
Growing up in Bundaberg and then Maroochydore on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Meninga knew patchy details of his heritage.
His father was of South Sea Islander descent while his mother was of European ancestry.
Meninga’s great grandfather Edward left his home of the island of Tanna which is located on the southern edge of Vanuatu.
In 1889, the then 19-year-old Edward made the massive move in search of adventure and scrambled aboard a ship and set sail for Queensland.
Meninga’s first visit to Tanna was eight years ago and he returned to a warm welcome from the locals recently.
“I’ve been on a little bit of a journey to understand our history and what our great grandfather did to get to Australia,” Meninga said.
“I am very proud to be an Australian South Sea Islander. I think it’s the ultimate thing you can give your children because what I have found out on my journey as that you’re never really complete until you understand that really well.
“And once you understand that really well, that helps you make better decisions in life as well and make contributions in life.
“We always knew we were Australian South Sea Islander but we really weren’t quite sure where we came from, we come from Tanna, but, where did the Meninga name come from?”
Ironically, Edward’s “trackable number” was the number four, the same number Meninga wore on his back in the first State of Origin match in 1980.
“He had to give a name and it had to be spelt frenetically and they spelt it Meninga. Ironically beside it was the number four which was his trackable number throughout all his history,” Meninga said.
“Four is my Maroons number. I was fortunate to be part of the first State of Origin team way back in 1980 and I was known by playing number three, however, the great Arthur Beetson got the number one jersey so Colin Scott got two, Choppy Close got three and I got four.”
Edward jumped off the coastline with another young man with the surname Yow Yeh and they boarded a ship that cruised the South Pacific recruiting black labour, a practice known as blackbirding.
Blackbirding is the trade of tricking or kidnapping local islanders onto ships to be taken to work as slaves or poorly paid labour in the cane fields of Queensland.
Being in a mixed-race family in 1960s Australia, Meninga said his parents’ marriage caused “tension” but that he and his brothers were as shielded as possible.
“They protected me from it,” Meninga said. “They protected myself and my brothers and there were tensions between both families both white and black.
“No one turned up at their wedding but eventually as time heals and the families came back around.
“It became the norm for me and my brother at school and we were fighting all the time for our own existence and fighting for respect.
“When I look back on that life it’s made me the person I am today and that enables me to do what I do today as well. I am not regretful of that I am just a bit disappointed I guess but that’s life.”
Meninga said being called out for his heritage on the football field became like a badge of honour.
“Dad told me it’s okay if they call you names as long as they’ve got a smile on their face because if they’re joking that’s fine,” he said.
“On a football field it was a sign of strength that you’re getting over the top of the opposition so if someone’s starting to call you all sorts of names you know you’re winning the battle on the footy field.
“That’s they way I looked at it and it gave me the strength to actually accept it and just move forward all the time. I’m not a person who can dwell on it and like most males I try and find solutions to things.”
Tune in to Face to Face with Mal Meninga at 7.30pm Monday on Fox League 502 or stream on Kayo.
Source Agencies
