About Mal Meninga
Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. He is currently the inaugural head coach of the Perth Bears franchise in the National Rugby League (NRL). Previously, Meninga coached the Australian national team, the Queensland Maroons, the Papua New Guinea national rugby league team and the Canberra Raiders. After a lengthy career in both Australia and England, mainly as a goal-kicking centre, Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. Having broken numerous rugby league records, 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. Meninga has since been honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia, inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame, and named in both Queensland's and Australia's teams of the twentieth century. Meninga is the only player in history to be selected for four Kangaroo Tours - 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 (1990 and 1994). Additionally, Meninga 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. In 2018, Meninga was inducted as the 13th Immortal of rugby league. Bill Harrigan Meninga made his first grade début in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership at the age of 18 with Southern Suburbs. Meninga was the Kangaroos top point scorer on tour, scoring 166 from 10 tries (worth 3 points) and 68 goals, including a personal haul of 19 points (1 try, 8 goals) in the first Ashes series test against Great Britain at Boothferry Park in Hull. Meninga broke numerous rugby league records during his playing career. After retiring, Meninga has enjoyed success as a coach, and is currently the head coach of the Australian national team.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.