League: Legend backs winning idea

Mal Meninga says the nines format is the best way to promote rugby league. Photo / Getty Images

The NRL Auckland Nines might be the brainchild of Dean Lonergan, but Australian league legend Mal Meninga is the man who convinced him that the concept was a winner.

When Lonergan, the colourful NRL Auckland Nines promoter and former Kiwis league international, was considering approaching the NRL with his idea to start a sevens tournament, it was his old Canberra Raiders captain and friend who urged him to go with the nine-a-side format.

The Queensland coach and former Maroons and Kangaroos captain said nines would encompass all the elements of the 13-man game, using forwards and putting an emphasis on defence, while sevens would mostly be limited to backs and focused on attacking play.

"I rang Mal and said 'should we do sevens or nines, what do you reckon?'," Lonergan said.

"He said, 'sevens looks like a glorified game of touch and you only ever have backs on the field, so you should definitely do nines'.

"So we took Mal's advice and here we are.

"He was definitely influential in the nines and, I've got to be honest, in hindsight, making it nines is what has made it so damned successful because Mal was on the money."

Meninga, a three-time premiership winner, says nines is the best way of promoting league because it holds true to the basics of the game.

"You've still got to take control of the ruck, you've still got to create momentum by going through the forwards to expose your space out wide, so nothing has really changed tactically," he said.

"But there is that fairness with defence; that's the real gain - it still promotes how good the defensive qualities of the players are.

"I'd played sevens before but nines is a better concept and it is league's vehicle to take around the world and expose all nations to our great game."

He is full of praise for what Lonergan has achieved with the nines and says his entrepreneurial and promotional skills were obvious when he lured the Raiders to New Zealand on a series of memorable pre-season visits in the early 1990s.

"Deano had a lot to do with all of that because he brought us over there for some trials where we played against local teams and other Winfield Cup sides," said Meninga.

Lonergan acknowledges that the immense popularity of the star-studded Raiders sides helped rugby league reach new heights in New Zealand.

And he says Meninga's influence is still being felt in the game today.

"Way back in 1991, 92 and 93, I brought out the Canberra Raiders because they were the hottest team around at that time.

"Every single one of those games Mal Meninga played in.

"That was one of my first business ventures and we sold out Carlaw Park three years in a row.

"It was a pretty good precursor for the NRL, or the New South Wales Rugby League at the time, to look at it and go 'wow, this is really popular'.

"Obviously the wheels were already in motion by then [for the Warriors' inclusion] but I'm guessing those games were confirmation the game was popular.

"That's all led to the great success of the game. Mal's had a major impact on what rugby league and the nines tournament looks like."