The Roar

Meninga asked to leave Brisbane CBD pub in early hours

Laine Clark — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:05:09 GMT

Barely 24 hours after claiming he was fed up with rugby league’s image being tarnished, Queensland coach Mal Meninga has unwittingly added to the code’s growing list of off-field incidents.

A red-faced Meninga admitted he was asked to leave a Brisbane CBD hotel early on Wednesday morning by security as the Maroons celebrated skipper Cameron Smith and fullback Billy Slater’s 30th birthdays.

Staff intervened after Meninga stepped behind a service area asking for a drink at around 1am AEST.

He left without incident and was not believed to be intoxicated but it was not a good look after Meninga had on Tuesday vented his spleen over what is now becoming a week from hell for the code.

Meninga had taken aim at Josh Dugan’s NSW game two selection just three months after he was sacked by Canberra, saying the NRL needed to adopt a more hardline stance.

He was also unimpressed with winger Blake Ferguson who he had helped overcome personal demons to earn Blues honours, only to become embroiled in an indecent assault controversy that resulted in his NRL registration being suspended on Monday night .

A day later South Sydney forward George Burgess was charged with two counts of wilful damage to a car in an incident in Cairns.

NSW’s Origin II build-up was disrupted from the outset after prop James Tamou was ruled out for high range drink-driving last week.

“I’m disappointed. To be honest, I’m just fed up,” Meninga told News Ltd at the time.

Now Meninga is under the spotlight after earning the ire of the Brisbane hotel security.

Meninga said he left without incident after Queensland playmaker Johnathan Thurston and assistant coach Allan Langer unsuccessfully pleaded with staff.

“I stepped into the service area which is a breach of the rules,” he told Fairfax.

“They asked me to leave and ‘Alf’ (Langer) and ‘JT’ (Thurston) wanted to talk to the security people about what had happened.

“Rather than cause a scene, I said ‘It’s OK boys, I’m happy to leave,’ and they came with me.

“I want to make it clear I left the premises without incident.”

The Queensland team entered their Sunshine Coast camp on Wednesday afternoon.

Article link: Channel Nine want to influence ODI teams for better TV. Written by Laine Clark, on The Roar - Your Sports Opinion

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