Australian coach Mal Meninga says Phil Gould’s remarks about Kangaroos were disrespectful

MAL Meninga says Phil Gould disrespected the Kangaroos and has called for Australia to embrace the national team.

Australian coach Mal Meninga says Phil Gould’s remarks about Kangaroos were disrespectful.

MAL Meninga says Phil Gould disrespected the Kangaroos and has called for Australia to embrace the national team.

The Kangaroos snapped a three-match losing streak against the Kiwis in the 16-0 win at Newcastle on Friday night, holding the No. 1 ranked Test team scoreless for the first time since 2007.

But Meninga’s first game in charge was overshadowed by “Gus” Gould’s running commentary.

“We’re kidding ourselves about winning the World Cup if this is the best we can produce,” the former NSW Origin coach said.

“They can’t possibly be thinking this is the side for the World Cup at the end of next year.”

Meninga blooded four debutants — Blake Ferguson, Semi Radradra, Michael Morgan and Josh McGuire — while Matt Gillett and Josh Dugan played just their second Tests.

When Meninga replaced Tim Sheens, Gould claimed the fulltime appointment was a “waste of money”.

Broncos and England coach Wayne Bennett last week criticised Meninga’s decision to name the team before the final round of NRL games.

Lewis Brown is tackled by Matt Scott and Paul Gallen.

Meninga is no stranger to verbal barbs, enduring plenty during his 10-year reign as Queensland coach but he admitted the criticism wasn’t helping anyone.

“We could do without it to be honest,” Meninga said.

“You deal with it as it comes. You can’t predict it.

“The players responded really positively to it all. They didn’t make any excuses.

“We should all be getting behind it. We’re all Australians. For once we should forget about all our allegiances.

“If we’re Australian, we should be supporting the Australian team shouldn’t we?”

Meninga’s selection policies were vindicated with prop Paul Gallen, the oldest player on the field at 34, a prime example after being named man-of-the-match for his 240m and 31 tackles performance.

The Kangaroos had just two training sessions to prepare for the mid-season Test and Meninga said the representative arena wasn’t about succession planning.

“We pick the Australian team based on the best players,” he said.

“Rep football isn’t an arena where you succession plan. It’s an arena where your best players are playing.

“I don’t know why people have this obsession around age. If you’re the best player you should be in the Australian Test team, no matter what age you are.

“It’s a bit of a shame for someone of his (Gould) stature in the game to say things like that.

Paul Gallen charges in to Kodi Nikorima of the Kiwis.

“It’s a slight on the players and disrespectful to the players. It’s disrespectful to the players from the past too.”

Meninga lost his first game as Queensland coach in 2006 before going on to claim nines series wins in 10 years.

During his time at the helm of the Maroons he regularly had prospective players spend time in camp to prepare them for their Origin debuts.

Fullback Darius Boyd said having a nucleus of experienced players was pivotal for the younger players to succeed.

“You can’t chuck anyone in there and expect them to come out swinging and do a good job,” Boyd said.

“You need those guys. They’re the best players available and are playing great footy.

“Age doesn’t matter. You go on who’s playing well and fits into the way Mal wants to run the team.

“Gal got man of the match and he’s the oldest in the team.

“You keep your experienced guys to lead you around and blood a few young guys to follow their example.”

The Kiwis and Kangaroos will clash again in Perth in October before Meninga takes a squad of 24 to the Four Nations in the UK.

Meninga said the likes of Anthony Milford, Ben Hunt, Dylan Napa, Bryce Cartwright and Boyd Cordner were in the frame for selection in the season-ending matches.