Kangaroos coach Meninga defends Inglis’ two-Test ban for drink driving
Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga has defended the two-match ban handed down to Greg Inglis over a drink-driving incident, but says any decision on a possible return to the Australian captaincy will have to wait.
Inglis was named as the new Kangaroos captain on Monday, but less than 24 hours later he was charged with drink driving after being stopped for speeding at Lithgow, on the way back to Sydney from Dubbo where he had been at the Koori Knockout competition.
Inglis spoke to the media on Tuesday and said he was not standing down as skipper. The NRL came out a few hours later and announced a two-match ban that makes the South Sydney star unavailable for upcoming Tests against New Zealand and Tonga.
"He's in a good space and I thought he showed really strong leadership skills yesterday in coming out and fronting up [to the media], and being accountable for his actions," Meninga said.
"He's stuffed up, he's made a poor error of judgement and he's paid the price for it."
Meninga said he did not feel let down by Inglis for what had happened.
"It's wrong what he's done, it's a poor error of judgement … drink driving is a criminal offence.
"He was bitterly disappointed in himself. You know when Greg says something, he's very genuine.
"I'm disappointed he's not playing, and not captain of our country.
"But the penalties are handed down based on behaviour, I think we've handled it really well."
Boyd Cordner will replace Inglis as skipper for the Tests against New Zealand and Tonga — Meninga did not rule out Inglis returning to the captaincy after his ban, but said no decision would be made for now.
"He'll lead Queensland next year [in State of Origin] and then we'll make some decisions at the back end of next year about who our leaders are going to be, who are captain will be," Meninga said.
"I just want to see Greg have a really good off-season and then start the season off really well for the Rabbitohs."
Meninga said his first conversation with Inglis about his drink-driving incident came on Monday night.
"He was open and honest and transparent in the conversation," he said.
"I've got great admiration for Greg, I highly respect him, I love him dearly and I've been involved with him for many, many years — he was really excited about the [captaincy] role.
"He was going to be the first Indigenous captain since Arthur Beetson.
"He's really disappointed in himself, but … he's taken it on the chin, admitted he's wrong and moved on."
Meninga — who was speaking before taking the Australian PM's XIII men and women's sides to Papua New Guinea for matches against the national side in Port Moresby — said he hoped by commenting on the incident he could "put a dot on the sentence and move on" as well.
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