MAL Meninga says new Maroons coach Kevin Walters was right to come down hard on the misbehaving Emerging Origin players, saying his successor has shown the Queensland culture must be protected at all costs.
Walters’ first engagement as Queensland coach was not what he was hoping, with the former Maroons captain having to ban eight players from Origin duty for 12 months after an investigation found they had breached a team-enforced curfew.
Meninga had dished out similar penalties during his time at the helm of Queensland with Esi Tonga and Dane Gagai, and said Walters should be congratulated for taking a tough stand.
“Kevin has had to make a tough decision here, and one that undoubtedly makes his job as coach harder, because some of those players would have been in line to play Origin this year,” Meninga told fogs.com.au.
“The players should be embarrassed about their actions, not least of all because of the position they have put their coach in.
“I think Kevvie would be feeling pretty down about how the whole thing unfolded, but this was not a problem of his making.
“The rules were laid out for the players, and some of them decided to ignore them. Those types of things stay in the mind of a coach when he sits down to pick a team and needs to select players he knows he can trust and rely on to carry out instructions and get the job done.
“But I can tell you this, the ones who would have been just as disappointed about what happened would be the current members of the Queensland team, who have worked so hard to create and develop the culture and public image of the team.
“Seeing what they have created being treated with disrespect would not have pleased them.
“That is why I know when Kevvie walks into his first Origin camp with the Maroons this year, he can do so with his head held high, because he will have every single one of the Queensland players behind him and supporting him for what he did.”
After a decade at the helm of the Maroons, Meninga is adjusting to life outside the Queensland inner-circle and getting used to his new life as Australian coach.
Big Mal will soon move to Sydney to begin his work with the Kangaroos, which includes creating new structures to build the game internationally.
And Queensland’s most successful Origin coach admits he is looking forward to locking horns with new England Test coach Wayne Bennett – another former Maroons coach who was openly critical of Meninga’s appointment to the Australian job – in this year’s Four Nations tournament in the UK.
“I personally think it is terrific that Wayne has decided to coach England,” Mal said. “Whatever his motivations may be, he has already guaranteed people here will be playing closer attention to what the English team does, and how they perform.
“When he comes up against Australia for the first time as England coach, which will be in the Four Nations game played in London, of course the interest level will go up a few notches.
“So already, interest in the international game has a platform to build and grow.
“That is what it is all about – not only having these events but having people involved that give it that profile.
“Part of my job is to help the game grow and return Test football to the pinnacle of the game.
“Without a game being played, I think we have taken some small steps in that direction already.”
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