Mal Meninga

Meninga had an unhappy game though, dislocating his elbow in the 28th minute after a crunching blindside tackle from Kiwi winger Dane O'Hara, while at the same time attempting to break a tackle from Kiwi fullback Gary Kemble.

He soon recovered and played in the centres for Souths in their 17–3 loss to the Wynnum Manly Seagulls in the BRL Grand Final at Lang Park.

Malcolm Norman Meninga (born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Australian national team and a former professional rugby league footballer.

Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history.

He enjoyed a long career in both Australia and England, playing mainly as a goal-kicking.

After retiring, Meninga has enjoyed success as a coach, and is currently the head coach of Australia.

Meninga broke numerous rugby league records during his playing career.

He retired with the most appearances in the history of the Australian national team, and became the top-point scorer ever in State of Origin football.

He 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 in both Queensland's and Australia's teams of the century.

Meninga is the only player in history to be selected for four Kangaroo Tours.

Meninga attended Maroochydore State High School, graduating with a Junior Certificate in 1975.

He was selected to play for Brisbane in the 1979 Amco Cup, kicking a goal in their 5–22 final loss to Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.

Meninga also made his first appearance at centre for Queensland in 1979, and the following year helped his state to win the first interstate match under State of Origin selection rules against New South Wales at Lang Park, kicking seven goals from seven attempts.

Meninga was one of the last players to use the toe-poke kicking style rather than the more accurate around-the-corner style that was starting to take hold.

That Origin game was on 8 July 1980, Meninga's 20th birthday.

Later that year he played for Souths in the BRL grand final, scoring a try and kicking 3 goals as the Magpies went down to Northern Suburbs 17–15.

Meninga finished the 1980 season as the BRL's top points scorer, with 245 points.

A year later however Meninga reached the 1981 Brisbane Rugby League season grand final with Souths, who defeated the Redcliffe Dolphins 13–9.

He toured with the Kangaroos in 1982, 1986, 1990 and 1994, appearing in every test match against Great Britain and France on all four tours.

Additionally he is one of five players, along with Wally Lewis, Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny and Gene Miles, who were members of the undefeated 1982 and 1986 tours, known as 'the Invincibles' and 'the Unbeatables' respectively.

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In 1982, he was named man-of-the-match in Game 1 of 1982 State of Origin series against New South Wales at Lang Park, and was later selected to make his test début for Australia in a test against New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground, being the 540th player selected for Australia.

Post season he toured Europe with the undefeated 1982 Kangaroos, playing in all six tests on tour against Papua New Guinea, Great Britain and France.

Meninga was the Kangaroos top point scorer on tour, scoring 166 from 10 tries (worth 3 points) and 68 goals, including a personal haul of 19 points (1 try, 8 goals) in the first Ashes series test against Great Britain at Boothferry Park in Hull.

He then backed that up with 15 points (1 try, 6 goals) in the second test at Wigan's Central Park, before adding a further 14 points (7 goals) to his Ashes tally in the third test at Headingley in Leeds.

He completed his Senior Certificate at the Queensland Police Academy, citing his love for TV police dramas as a key reason for joining the force, and served as an officer in the Queensland Police Service until 1985.

It was during his time in the police force that Meninga met Wayne Bennett, who was serving as a constable at the time and would become one of Meninga's key mentors.

Mal was actually a senior constable and 2IC PE instructor under Sergeant Wayne Bennett at the Queensland Police Academy during the early 80s.

He is also the only player to captain two Kangaroo Tours, in 1990 and 1994.

Meninga captained Australia for 23 Test matches between 1990 and 1994, and captained the Queensland State of Origin team for three years from 1992 to 1994.

He remains the only player to captain two Kangaroo tours, in 1990 and 1994.

''I'd watch in awe as Mal pulverised the opposing defensive line with his bone-crunching runs.

From the safety of my spot six or seven metres away from the action, I felt grateful that I didn't have to tackle him because his giant thighs were lethal weapons.''

Meninga made his first grade début in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership at the age of 18 with Southern Suburbs.

As a coach, he began with the Canberra Raiders, before coaching Queensland to nine State of Origin titles between 2006 and 2015.

He became coach of Australia in 2016 and led the Kangaroos to win the 2017 World Cup and the 2021 World Cup.

On 1 August 2018 Meninga was named the 13th Immortal.

Meninga, whose father is of South Sea Island heritage and mother is Australian, was born in Bundaberg, Queensland.

His father, Norman Meninga, also played rugby league.

He has a brother, Geoffrey Meninga.