Monday Buzz: Why Mal Meninga must be made an Immortal
RUGBY league’s highest honour is being an Immortal. In recent years your columnist has been uncomfortable with the fact Mal Meninga isn’t one.
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RUGBY league’s highest honour is being an Immortal.
In recent years your columnist has been uncomfortable with the fact Mal Meninga isn’t one.
This needs to be addressed now that the NRL has taken ownership of the award from the now defunct Rugby League Week magazine.
As a player Meninga was a genuine champion. He made the Australian team of the century, even ahead of Immortal Bob Fulton who was chosen on the bench.
He is the only player in history to be selected on four Kangaroo tours and played 32 Origin games for Queensland and 46 Tests for Australia.
Combine what he did as a player with what he has achieved as a coach in representative football and it’s a record that will never be equalled.
He is undefeated as coach of the Kangaroos and the most successful State of Origin coach in the history of the game.
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The NRL will reveal next year their plans for the award. There’s no rule to say the judges can’t go back in time.
I was on the judging panel five years ago when the great Joey Johns joined Clive Churchill, Reg Gasnier, Bob Fulton, Johnny Raper, Graeme Langlands, Arthur Beetson and Wally Lewis.
We talked briefly about Mal and Norm Provan, the two men who have always been considered the unluckiest exclusions, but moved on.
The Immortal status is so great because it’s so exclusive.
It’s not a Hall of Fame and you don’t want 30 ex-players as part of it.
The brand is not about the best of the best but the greatest of the greatest.
In future we’ll be adding Darren Lockyer, Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston and possibly Billy Slater. But why not Mal?
There is not a more respected figure in the game. Or anyone more inspiring.
No-one has done more for the international game.
Saturday night’s World Cup triumph showed exactly what Meninga has contributed to this team.
This was like a brutal old-school Test match. Anything less than 100 per cent commitment to the jersey and the coat of arms wouldn’t have been good enough.
It’s what Mal has installed into this great football side.
Before he took over from Tim Sheens, the Kangaroos jersey didn’t mean as much as it should.
Players strived to play State of Origin more than Test matches.
Mal came in and restored that pride and spirit.
The jersey became rugby league’s version of the Baggy Green.
It was all about that never-say-die attitude, the grit and greatness.
For that, Mal would be a worthy addition to the most exclusive club of them all.
Originally published as Monday Buzz: Why Mal Meninga must be made an Immortal