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Meninga to lead the Bears: Immortal's blueprint for success
Nicholas Quinlan • June 6th, 2025 12:08 pm
Mal Meninga has provided some insight on the priorities that he wants to establish after being confirmed as the inaugural head coach of the Perth Bears.
The 13th immortal will lead the NRL’s newest team - his first coaching role at club level since 2001 when he left the Raiders.
Speaking on SEN’s Throwdown with Mal Meninga, he outlined some of the struggles he will need to address once in the role.
The hardest part of the job in Meninga’s eyes will be trying to grow rugby league to Western Australia which has been dominated by the two AFL teams the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers.
“The hardest part of all this is selling the game over there,” Meninga said.
“The sell point is really important. I haven’t been privy to any conversations or been a part of any conversations around how we do that culturally.
“That would be part of my role along with the CEO and other people we manage to take on this journey.
“That is something that will have to happen sooner rather than later, but you can’t do that until you have conversations with people.
“We don’t understand what the Perth Bears’ DNA will be. We haven’t talked to the local community; we don’t what the local business community is like with Rugby League over there.”
Meninga also made a point about ensuring the Bears adapt to the Perth market to ensure that they are embraced by all in Western Australia.
“We have to establish what’s right for there,” Meninga said. “We have to establish (what) the people expect, (what) the fans expect, (what) the Rugby League community expects out of their team.
“We’re obviously chasing success, that’s really important. But how do we do that?
“And I think that’s got to be part of the innateness of it all and the culture of it all to what makes up a Perth Bear person.
“Not just a player but what makes up a Perth Bear supporter, administrator, development kid, All of those sorts of things are really important to the whole sustainability of that program over there.”
