Perth Bears coach Mal Meninga has quashed speculation that he isn’t fully committed to the fledgling franchise and hit back at criticism about an apparent inability to attract big-name recruits, declaring: “I firmly believe we have marquees in the making.”
Meninga is in the process of assembling his inaugural roster ahead of Perth’s entry to the NRL next season, but he doesn’t have the lure of tax-free dollars that are available to the PNG Chiefs.
There has been speculation that the rugby league Immortal’s commitment had wavered after the club was beset by internal politics, including the departure of right-hand man and football general manager David Sharpe.
But in his first interview since Sharpe’s exit, Meninga has opened up about his resolution to see the job through, the quality of the squad assembled so far and his vision for rugby league in Western Australia.
Most pointedly, the 65-year-old refuted suggestions that he’s walking away from the challenge.
“It upsets me and disappoints me in a way,” Meninga told this masthead.
“I know I haven’t been out and said anything – because I’m not that type of person. I’m doing this for the right reasons. Everyone in this organisation is doing it for the right reasons.
“We want to leave our legacy piece. I’ve said from the beginning: ‘Why am I doing this? Why do I want to go back into coaching and put myself through this?’
“It’s all about legacy, honestly. I don’t have any other deep reason why.
“Yes, there have been rumours around that I get paid well, but it’s beyond what you get paid. It’s using my experience and my love of the game and my profile in the game.
“My ‘why?’ is I want to leave the game in a better place. I can’t see any better option to do that than in Perth and help rugby league in Western Australia be a popular sport.
“We want to build respect in the community over here. They’re the reasons why I do it. I don’t need to protect who I am, what I’ve done or why I’m doing it.”
Internal dramas
Meninga and Sharpe have a close bond, dating back to their time together at Canberra. However, Sharpe moved on – after eight months in the role – following a fallout with Bears chief executive Anthony De Ceglie.
Meninga had also pushed for former Gold Coast recruitment manager Ezra Howe to assemble the Bears roster, but the NRL refused to register him after the Titans accused him of breaching the terms of his employment contract.
“There have been hiccups, there has been conflict,” Meninga said.
“What startup business, industry or organisation doesn’t have conflict, doesn’t have differences of opinion?
“I know it’s disappointing from my point of view, but I move on. You’ve got to move on, because of my ‘why?’ Those things you have to contend with, you have to reflect on, you have to grow from it.
“That’s the attitude internally for all of us, not just me. I wanted them close to me – it just hasn’t worked out, unfortunately.”
Lack of a marquee man
The Bears have officially signed 18 players. Those who have committed to the club include Toby Sexton, Scott Sorensen, Tyran Wishart, Nick Meaney, Siosifa Talakai and Josh Curran.
However, the Bears have been criticised for being unable to attract a marquee man at a time when four-time premiership-winning playmaker Jarome Luai has been trumpeted as the Papua New Guinea Chiefs’ “Coded Player 001”.
However, Meninga is comfortable with how his list is coming together.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m really happy with where I am, as far as the club is, certainly regarding the roster management,” he said.
“I believe in the players, I believe we’re gathering up a strong, deep roster. We get criticised because of [a lack of a] marquee, but it doesn’t mean I’m wrong or our team is wrong in our decision-making.
“I firmly believe we have marquees in the making. We’re going to build a culture and environment that’s sustainable – that’s what we’re after. The people that we’ve recruited are players with a lot of upside and can be here for a long time if we build what I call a shared experience with stability in our roster, while we develop our kids in elite programs.”
Meninga pointed to the fact that the Dolphins were also criticised for apparently lacking a marquee player under Wayne Bennett in their first year, but were nonetheless competitive from the outset.
“I can assure all of the Perth Bears family that every player we’ve got has strong ambitions around leadership and wanting to be successful,” he said.
“They’re doing it for the right reasons over here … I’m not worried about marquees, I’m worried about character. People coming over for the right reasons … A marquee player may represent leadership and talent, but what’s to say we don’t sign a player at half that value who can represent that now and into the future? That’s up to the coaching team, that’s up to us to produce marquees.“
This masthead revealed that Cronulla co-captain Cameron McInnes has tabled a two-year deal.
Uneven playing field
Some of the game’s sharpest minds – including premiership-winning coaches Wayne Bennett, Ivan Cleary and Trent Robinson – feel that the Bears should be given additional assistance to entice players. To date, that hasn’t come to pass, so PNG has a huge advantage in attracting players, who won’t need to pay tax on their earnings. For instance, to match Luai’s base salary of $3.6 million over three years at the Chiefs, Perth would need to outlay about $6.6 million from their salary cap. And that’s before third-party deals are considered, which are also tax-free at the Chiefs.
Meninga was making no complaints about Perth’s lot.
“I’m more concerned with setting up the foundation pillars and the cultural bit where it creates a sustainable business,” Meninga said.
“The only thing I want to add is that when they sign a player – and they have some wonderful concessions, don’t get me wrong, it makes you jealous at times, I’m not going to deny those feelings – that it’s at market value.
“That’s the common thread with every club – when you register a player, it’s deemed market value, and you get ticked off on it. That’s my only comment on it.
“When we sign someone to a good contract worth $500,000, that it be equal when they sign someone on that notional or market value. So it’s $500,000, not $300,000 and you double your money because of the tax implications.”
Coaching in clubland
Meninga was inducted as the 13th Immortal after a storied playing career for the Raiders, Maroons and Kangaroos. As a coach, he guided the Maroons to nine State of Origin series wins from 10 series, while also overseeing two Australian World Cup victories.
It is an unprecedented record of success with the clipboard, but some critics have seized upon the fact that this will be his first club head-coaching gig since 2001.
“I haven’t been a head coach, but I’ve been in clubland for a while,” said Meninga, who has held various roles with the Raiders and Titans in recent years.
“I’ve coached at those rep levels, so it’s not as if I’m naive to it.”
Spreading the league gospel
AFL is the biggest sport in Western Australia, and garnering media coverage has proven difficult. However, Meninga is confident that the club will win over locals and play in front of packed houses at HBF Park.
“We will fill our stadium. We will do that every home game,” Meninga said.
“We want to gain the respect of that sporting community. We’re the Perth Bears, I’m comfortable we’re putting things together to make the Western Australian sporting community proud of us. We need to build respect, we’re not taking over …
“We’re going to be competitive. We’re going to create an environment where it’s going to be very difficult to beat us over here.”
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