Queensland captain-in-waiting Cameron Smith claims Maroons’ State of Origin coach Mal Meninga had every right to retaliate following attempts to downplay his influence in the side’s six straight series wins.
Smith has leapt to defence of the Origin legend by claiming he had played an integral part in the team’s winning run, after suggestions during the Origin campaign that he was coach in name only.
A newspaper article intimated assistant coach Michael Hagan and Neil Henry were the real architects of the unparalleled run of success.
Meninga hit back in spectacular fashion in a weekend column when he took aim at those “branding me a dispensable commodity”.
Smith supports Meninga’s emotional outburst, refuting claims he was just a figurehead.
“I think he would have been pretty upset with that, as any coach of a rugby league side would be,” Smith told Sky Sports Radio.
“Saying he doesn’t contribute much to our team and guys like Neil Henry and Michael Hagan are coaching … to set the record straight, that’s as far away from the truth as you can get.
“What you see at halftime is ‘Hages’ – what used to be Neil Henry – come in and have a chat at halftime about some of the stats we look at.
“Mal goes around and talks to individuals just about the way he thinks they’re going.
“He usually finishes off with his talk before we run back out.
“He’s the one who gets us ready before the match.”
Smith said Meninga’s influence goes well beyond drawing up game plans.
“It’s a lot to do with how he’s been able to prepare us mentally for these games and get us believing in each other.
“You’re not going to get a more experienced guy at this level.”
There could yet be more fallout from Meninga’s explosive column with some officials, including NRL match review committee chairman Greg McCallum, exploring the possibility of suing the former Test captain.
© AAP 2012Recommend this story.
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The Crowd Says (2) | Page 1 of Comments
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- Cameron Smith, Mal Meninga, NSW Blues, Queensland Maroons, State Of Origin
July 13th 2011 @ 12:06pm
Ryan said | July 13th 2011 @ 12:06pm | Report comment
QLD won origin in spite of Meninga not because of him. A bucket of KFC could do his job, if you call it a job i.e. doing nothing.
July 13th 2011 @ 3:23pm
Jaceman said | July 13th 2011 @ 3:23pm | Report comment
Meninga’s results speak for themselves although Fatty Vautin won a SOO series without the Broncos Qld players during the Super league war..Does that make him a good coach maybe. Meninga has won 6 series – the evidence for the opposing view is thin…although Cam Smith is a Fox employee as well…