Mal Meninga

Malcolm Norman Meninga AM (/məˈnɪŋɡə/; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach 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 centre. After retiring, Meninga has enjoyed success as a coach, and is currently the head coach of Australian national team.

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

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. Meninga was inducted as the 13th Immortal in 2018.

Meninga, whose father is of South Sea Island heritage and mother is a white Australian, was born in Bundaberg, Queensland. His father, Norman Meninga, also played rugby league. He has a brother, Geoffrey Meninga.

As detailed on Who Do You Think You Are? in 2016, Meninga's great-grandfather Edward Meninga was from Tanna, Vanuatu. Meninga has often been misidentified as an Aboriginal Australian.

Meninga attended Maroochydore State High School, graduating with a Junior Certificate in 1975. 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. Meninga was actually a senior constable and 2IC PE instructor under Sergeant Wayne Bennett at the Queensland Police Academy during the early 80s.^{[citation needed]}

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.