Mal Meninga in 2018 was announced as one of “The Immortals”. He is the current Head Coach of the Australian Rugby League Team and prior to that the Head Coach of the Queensland State of Origin Team between 2006 and 2015, winning 9 out of 10 series. As a player, Mal was involved in an unprecedented 4 Kangaroo tours (2 as Captain), an Australian record 45 Test match appearances (23 as Captain), a record 38 appearances for Queensland (9 as Captain) and 3 NRL grand final wins with the Canberra Raiders (all as Captain), not to mention scoring the most points of any player in the green and gold jersey and being top point scorer for Queensland in State of Origin history. Mal won the prestigious Golden Boot Award in 1989 for best player in the world.

In 1994 Mal was honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to rugby league. He has been inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame and has also been named at centre in both Queensland’s and Australia’s rugby league ‘Teams of the Century’. The main grandstand at Bruce Stadium in Canberra is named the ‘Mal Meninga Stand’ in tribute to his outstanding achievements. The Canberra Raiders’ Player of the Year receives the Mal Meninga Medal in his honour since 2008 and a statue of him has been placed behind the Mal Meninga grandstand next to the one of Laurie Daley.

Mal was appointed coach of the Canberra Raiders in 1997 and in 2006, made a stunning debut as the Maroons coach in the Rugby League State of Origin series, guiding Queensland to a 2-1 series victory – its first outright series victory since 2001. He went on to coach Queensland to nine State of Origin titles between 2006 and 2015. In 2016, he became coach of Australia, leading the Kangaroos to win the 2017 World Cup. In 2019 was appointed head of performance and culture with the Gold Coast Titans, a role performed alongside his duties as coach of the Kangaroos.