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Meninga confirms interest in Samoa national coach as possible Bears assistant
Sam Kosack • June 12th, 2025 5:18 pm
Mal Meninga has confirmed Samoa national coach Ben Gardiner has been identified as a possible assistant coach for the Perth Bears.
Gardiner is currently an assistant coach at the Penrith Panthers and the head coach of Samoa, offering him a unique position to potentially lure star players.
Meninga was officially confirmed as Perth Bears coach last Friday and has gone to work building his staff.
Gardiner has been part of two premierships at Penrith and would provide a voice with knowledge of the ins and outs of modern club practices, which will be of great value considering Meninga hasn’t coached at club level in over 20 years.
“If you want to build the club from its foundations up, if you want it to be sustainable over a long period of time… you've gotta have the right people in the right spots,” Meninga told SEN 1170 Afternoons.
“He's (Gardiner) is one of them, but we'll have a conversation with others for sure.
“He has been mentioned internally… we're obviously doing our due diligence at the moment… I don't know how that got leaked out.
“I've said often in the last week that it's around getting the right people in the right positions. I think that's really crucial.
“He's currently working in the Penrith system, so that's a big bonus as well.
“He's been doing that for three years, so he's been part of two premierships… that's not lost on us and he's highly qualified.”
The Bears can negotiate with players from November 1, under five months away, increasing the urgency to sign crucial staff now.
However, Meninga has revealed there is no rush to make any decisions.
“It's not unknown to us that we've got to make sure that this comes out sooner rather than later, but there's only a certain amount of positions we need to really shore up,” Meninga said.
“In accommodating those people with the clubs, if we're getting them out of clubland, will those clubs accommodate them for another 12 months? Probably not… they see them as threats.
“These are the sort of things that we need to discuss, you know, so I need to have a bit of clarity.
“So, we're going to go talk to people. These will be the questions I'd be asking… what happens next year?
“We haven't even discussed that yet. We haven't even got to that stage.”
