Mal Meninga’s appointment as Australian coach in December last year raised a few eyebrows, at least south of the Tweed river. Meninga had been a success as Queensland coach, driving the Maroons to break State of Origin history with constant dominance. While his reign as a club coach with Canberra was far from successful, in his time in charge of Queensland the Origin rivalry had been at its fiercest.
Meninga became public enemy number one in New South Wales as he squared off against his old Raiders teammate Ricky Stuart. Who could forget the controversial “rats and filth” column in Brisbane’s Courier-Mail, aimed at Blues officials and the Sydney-dominated rugby league establishment?
Surely Big Mal was not the right man to revitalise the Kangaroos after they had lost the 2014 Four Nations to the Kiwis and slumped to three consecutive defeats to their trans-Tasman foes. Surely he couldn’t heal the divisions between the Queenslanders and the New South Welshmen in the Australian set-up, a rift that had exploded into public knowledge in 2012 when it was revealed the Maroons players had sung the Queensland team song after a win over New Zealand in Townsville.
Meninga was the epitome of Queensland, the banana-bender and barb-thrower in chief. Surely he couldn’t be the peacemaker between Cameron Smith and Paul Gallen’s charges? His infamous political career had lasted all of 30 seconds back in 2001, so we knew he was no Kofi Annan. Wrong. Under the 56-year old the green and gold have won five games in a row and aim to make it a perfect six in Liverpool this weekend. The Kangaroos are more united than they have been in years.
Origin bitterness and tension between team-mates are gone. In their place is a squad happy and united, all pulling in one direction – to put international footy back on a pedestal and to put Australia on top of it. Kangaroos young and old, cane toad and cockroach, have all bought into Meninga’s mantra.
“Mal’s really trying to fly this jersey and we want to play in this jersey for a long time,” David Klemmer told Guardian Australia. “Origin’s probably taken the heat a bit, it’s bigger, but we really want this international game to grow and we want this to be the main priority as the jersey. I love my time here and I want to play for the Kangaroos for a very long time.”
It’s the same message Cameron Smith is eager to get across. The skipper has been in the Australian team for a decade, experiencing life under Ricky Stuart, Tim Sheens and now Meninga. “For whatever reason I just feel that this group is as close as its ever been in an Australian side and that may be a result of Mal and his beliefs around the Kangaroos and what we stand for and the way we want to be seen,” Smith admitted an Anfield.
“Our behavioural standards around camp, which he addressed in the first Test match in Newcastle this year in his first game. And then they were readdressed when the squad was assembled after the grand final to all the guys that weren’t a part of that game in May. I dare say that’s the main reason why… for some reason this group is as tight as it’s been for a long time and we’re all on the same page. We’re all working towards a common goal, well we’ve reached one goal so far and that was to make this final, and we’ve obviously got one more to go and that’s to win the final this weekend.”
Meninga’s magic touch couldn’t come at a better time: a year after failure in the Anzac Test in Brisbane and disappointment in the 2014 Four Nations. New Zealand have risen as a rugby league power and their victories in the 2005 Tri-Nations and 2008 World Cup final are no longer seen as anomalies, but the rise of a worthy opponent.
New Zealand possess more depth than ever, including the 2014 Golden Boot award-winner and the 2016 joint Dally M award-winner. They might be missing stars like Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Kieran Foran in this tournament, but this is still a Kiwi squad stocked with top NRL talent, a decent mixture of experience and youth, size and speed, guile and grunt.
The Kangaroos won’t take them for granted at Anfield, as perhaps they can be accused of doing so in finals in the past. This 2016 Australian side, which sweeps up their changing rooms after each game like the All Blacks, is more grounded than their predecessors. Jonathan Thurston, Greg Inglis, Darius Boyd, Cooper Cronk and Smith might have already won everything the game has to offer, but they want more.
A slice of history awaits Australia on Sunday and Meninga, one of the greatest Kangaroos of them all, believes the modern outfit compares favourably with those antipodean heroes of the past.
“There’s no doubt about that,” he says. “Given the same circumstances the players that played in that era only knew what they knew. If they were playing in today’s era they would be exceptional players. I’ve go no doubt the players playing today, if they were playing back in ’82 and ’86, would have been part of that footy team too. They’re all great players and the way they conduct themselves when they play for Australia is outstanding.”
