NRL

Former Super League and NRL man leapfrogs Sam Burgess and Brad Arthur in race for Pearth Bears job

by
Sian Reed
May 26, 2025

NRL coaching job up for grabs at Perth Bears

The Perth Bears coaching jobs have become a hot topic in recent weeks, with multiple names from across Super League and the NRL rumoured to be moving.

Sam Burgess and Brad Arthur have both been linked with an assistant coaching role at the Bears, but now, there’s another name that’s been thrown into the mix.

Current Sydney Roosters and New South Wales assistant coach Matt King has been touted as the new frontrunner to become Mal Meninga’s assistant.

King, as a player, spent five seasons with Melbourne Storm before moving to Super League to play for Warrington Wolves. After four years, he returned to Australia to join South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Upon retirement, he joined the Rabbitohs backroom staff before making the cross-city switch to the Roosters, where he remains now.

Whilst Meninga himself hasn’t officially been announced as the head coach, according to Australia’s Code Sports, a formal statement is expected by the end of the week.

He was recently interviewed for the coaching role alongside Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur and Warrington Wolves head coach Sam Burgess.

However, Meninga hasn’t been a head coach of an NRL team since leaving the Canberra Raiders back in 2001, having coached Queensland for State of Origin and Australia since then, as well as a career in the media.

He is a well-respected figure amongst the NRL, and King would join his coaching staff, with a view to becoming head coach within a couple of years.

Former NRL and Super League man talks head coach ambitions

King has admitted that becoming a head coach has been more on his mind in recent years, despite initially not being an ambition of his.

Talking to Triple M’s Sunday Sin Bin, he said: “I am daydreaming about it more and more.

“A couple of years ago, I was staunch, I was like, no way I would ever do that. I turn 45 this year, and I have done a big old apprenticeship.

“The love and joy the game gives me, I love it. To think that at some stage, I might one the head coach of a footy program at a club that means something to me.

“I don’t want to be that coach who is interviewing for absolutely every club that pops up.

“To look at any club, it has to be the right fit for me and my family. I will be patient, I will hold my cool, and if the right opportunity pops up at the right club and it feels right.

“In all honesty, I will probably have a crack at it.”