By Wayne Heming
Rugby League icon Mal Meninga took less than 30 seconds to realise the old adage “sport and politics” don’t mix is true.
At least it was in his case anyway.
Thankfully though for both Queensland and Australian Rugby League’s sake, Big Mal’s brief foray into politics in Canberra on September 24, 2001, flopped and proved an embarrassing moment in the career of one of Australia’s finest ever players.
Now, 22 years on, one of his former Canberra and Queensland teammates, Steve Jackson, is about to dive head first into the political deep end, nominating himself as Mayoral candidate in next year’s Mackay Council elections.
Jackson recently hosted a campaign fundraiser for a packed audience in Mackay with Penrith’s triple premiership-winning coach, Ivan Cleary, on the stage with him.
“I looked around at everyone in the room,” he smiled.
“I slowly got to my feet and announced to the room: I can’t do this, turned away and started walking off the stage.
“Then I turned around and laughingly told everyone that I was joking.”
Jackson’s re-enactment of Meninga’s famous first and last political press conference was received with chuckles and laughter.
“I hope Mal hasn’t heard about it because I have plans to use him as part of my campaign, added Jackson, who a number of TikTok videos to release, featuring several former players as part of his election bid.
Jackson grabbed a slice of (Canberra) rugby league immortality coming off the bench in extra time in the 1989 grand final epic against Balmain, scoring a stunning try (off a Meninga pass) to seal the Raiders their maiden NRL premiership title.
He only played a total of 16 games for Canberra but will always have hero status in the nation’s capital.
Jackson also played nine games for Queensland between 1990-93.
We caught up with FOG #67 during his hectic day of running his two chicken franchises, a local real estate business and doing some political campaigning for a chat about rugby league and a possible career in politics.
In his own words, he had a “powerful story to tell”.
From humble housing commission beginnings in Mackay to a self-confessed boozy bum teenager, battling depression and THAT unlikely grand final moment for the Canberra Raiders in 1989 it’s been quite a journey for Jackson who turned 58 last month.
Along the way, he had some good mentors.
His father, Kevin, rugby league’s greatest coach Wayne Bennett, and Meninga — the man who provided the pass for him to score that famous try, his first try in senior grade, that sent Canberra fans into raptures and broke the hearts of Balmain Tigers supporters, were all big influences on his life.
He learned important life lessons from all of them.
Going into politics can be a risky business.
If you have any skeletons in the closet or deep dark secrets, they can often be dragged out and aired in public.
Jackson admits when he was first approached by a group called “Mackay First” several months ago to stand for Mayor of the sugar belt coastal town in central Queensland, he quickly “scoffed at the idea” because he knew had a few of those skeletons lurking in his closet.
“Mayor of Mackay? That wasn’t on my radar,” he told FOGS.
“I thought the closet had too many skeletons in it to do something as public as that.
“But they (Mackay First group) which is driving the campaign) kept persevering, so I told them I’d talk it over with my family.
“You know what? I own everything I did back in the days when I was a young rogue.
“I’ve never done anything sinister, I drunk a lot, plenty of us did back in those days, it was the culture.
“I remember after I went to Sydney, I asked Wayne Bennett what was the one thing I could hinge my life on.
“He said to me: ‘Jacko, be true to yourself, your integrity is your strength’.
“I own everything I have ever done.
“I had to be the person I was to become the person I am now. ”
Jackson admits he never had to buy a beer or lunch in Canberra after his grand final try.
“Mate, I have had so many free lunches on that try over 34 years you would not believe,” he quipped.
“I probably drank more than four average men in a lifetime. I was a pretty good drinker and it was pretty hard to keep up with me.
“There was a time when I struggled with depression but after my father passed away at the age of 63 he became my driving force.”
Jackson hasn’t touched alcohol since 2013.
“I gave it away because I didn’t want to be the father who told his kids” ‘do as I say, not as I do. I wanted to be a father like Wayne Bennett, which is do as I do,” he said explaining his decision.
“I’ve got four kids, three boys and a girl. They are the air I breathe and my reason for giving away the beer.
“I had my last alcoholic drink on March 12, 2013, and I’ll never drink again.”
Jackson said his father was a strong character who dished out plenty of tough love to his five boys growing up.
“Kev was the strong hand but my mother, Ronda, was the glue that held everything together.
“She passed away last year aged 93. She was the love of my life.”
Jackson’s first State of Origin roomie in 1991, Martin Bella, is ironically, a Mackay Councillor.
He remembers the day he joined the Queensland team in camp for the first time in Brisbane in 1991.
He had planned on spending the night in his hotel room watching a movie.
But at around 7 pm, there was a knock on the door and when he opened it, Meninga was standing outside.
“He asked me what I was doing and I told him I was going to watch a movie and go to bed,” said Jackson.
“Mal looked at me and smiled and then said: ‘No way Jacko, the first night in camp we all got out for a bonding session but we drink water,” recalled Jackson.
“Well, we didn’t drink water, and we all got back to our rooms around 5 am the next morning.
“The players were absolutely flogged at training that morning by our team conditioner, trainer, Brian Canavan.
“I swore I’d never do that again.
“You guessed it, the following night we were all out on the drink again until 5 am.
“That was the culture back then.”
But perhaps Jacko’s best rugby league story is how he almost didn’t get his greatest moment in rugby league in ‘89 grand final.
He takes up the story.
“I did my knee in 1989 and it was an up-and-down season for me; the highs and lows that year were incredible and to finish with a premiership was a dream come true.
“I played in the club’s reserve grade preliminary final al against Parramatta which we lost narrowly.
“I was sitting in the sheds after the game and coach Tim Sheens came into the room and told me he was going to make us a fresh reserve for next week’s grand final against Balmain.
“The first thing I said to him was: ‘Do I get a jersey’ and he said: ‘Yes” which is all that mattered to me at the time.
Sheens had 10 fresh reserves on the bench for the grand final because in those days you had as many players on the bench as you wanted, but you could only use four of them.
“I didn’t get to go to the grand final breakfast because there weren’t enough places at the table so I stayed back in the Travelodge Hotel with the strappers and rubbers.
“I’d scored plenty of tries in reserve grade during the season but I had it in my mind I wasn’t going to get a run and that I was just there to make up the numbers.
“It really helped me to relax because I never stressed about the game or wasted energy thinking about the game.”
Jackson, who wore jumper No.20 in the grand final, smiles when he thinks about that moment that gave him notoriety.
“If I get pulled up a foot from the try line, you never see (footage) of that run again,” he says.
“It wasn’t a bad run, I bumped and shrugged a few off but it could have been different had I not scored.
“It’s why I tell the kids I coach and all my staff who work for me that there is a very fine line between success and failure.
When Jackson pulled on the maroon jumper he was inspired by the famous “QUEENSLANDER” call.
Now he is inspired by his new campaign slogan: ‘STRIVING HIGH FOR MACKAY’.”
