Mal Meninga is disappointed in the recent criticism the Perth Bears have received.
The criticism is around an inability to sign marquee recruits.
A segment at the beginning of the week on 100% Footy went viral after Paul Gallen had strong criticism towards James Bracey, a board member of the Perth Bears, about the club's struggles of landing a big name in recruitment.
This comes after the PNG Chiefs signed Wests Tigers star Jarome Luai and Rabbitohs winger Alex Johnston for when the club will start in the competition in the 2028 season.
Despite recent events regarding the lure of tax-free dollars for anyone who signs with the Chiefs, Meninga has optimism about the 18 players the Bears have signed so far.
"I firmly believe we have marquees in the making," Meninga told The Sydney Morning Herald.
The Bears experienced internal politics before playing an NRL game, with the departure of the football manager, David Sharpe.
With Sharpe gone, there have been growing whispers that Meninga would pursue an exit from the club.
However, the 65-year-old remains confident he's coaching for the right reasons.
"It upsets me and disappoints me in a way," Meninga said.
"I know I haven't been out and said anything – because I'm not that type of person. I'm doing this for the right reasons.
"Everyone in this organisation is doing it for the right reasons.
"We want to leave our legacy piece. I've said from the beginning: ‘Why am I doing this? Why do I want to go back into coaching and put myself through this?'
For Meninga, he wants to create a long-lasting legacy, nothing more and nothing less.
"It's all about legacy, honestly. I don't have any other deep reason why.
"Yes, there have been rumours around that I get paid well, but it's beyond what you get paid," he continued.
"It's using my experience, my love of the game and my profile in the game.
"My ‘why?' is I want to leave the game in a better place. I can't see any better option to do that than in Perth, and help rugby league in Western Australia be a popular sport.
"We want to build respect in the community over here. They're the reasons why I do it. I don't need to protect who I am, what I've done or why I'm doing it."
Sharpe's exit wasn't the only worry the Bears have experienced since building the club top to bottom.
Meninga had recommended former Titans recruitment manager Ezra Howe to construct the Bears roster, but the NRL declined after the Titans accused him of violating the terms of his employment contract.
"There have been hiccups, there has been conflict," Meninga stated.
"What startup business, industry or organisation doesn't have conflict, doesn't have differences of opinion?
"I know it's disappointing from my point of view, but I move on. You've got to move on, because of my ‘why?' Those things you have to contend with, you have to reflect on, you have to grow from it.
"That's the attitude internally for all of us, not just me. I wanted them close to me – it just hasn't worked out, unfortunately."
The Bears coach is happy with how the roster is coming together and has responded to criticism about whether his side will be competitive from the 2027 kickoff.
"I've come to the conclusion that I'm really happy with where I am, as far as the club is, certainly regarding the roster management," he said.
"I believe in the players, I believe we're gathering up a strong, deep roster. We get criticised because of [a lack of a] marquee, but it doesn't mean I'm wrong or our team is wrong in our decision-making.
"I firmly believe we have marquees in the making. We're going to build a culture and environment that's sustainable – that's what we're after.
"The people that we've recruited are players with a lot of upside and can be here for a long time if we build what I call a shared experience with stability in our roster, while we develop our kids in elite programs."
The former Queensland coach spoke about the players' ambitions for when they join the Bears, and said he is not worried about the marquee players, but instead about their character and professionalism.
"I can assure all of the Perth Bears family that every player we've got has strong ambitions around leadership and wanting to be successful,” he said.
"They're doing it for the right reasons over here … I'm not worried about marquees, I'm worried about character. People coming over for the right reasons.
"A marquee player may represent leadership and talent, but what's to say we don't sign a player at half that value who can represent that now and into the future? That's up to the coaching team, that's up to us to produce marquees."
Ultimately, the club wants to be popular in Western Australia and build meaningful connections with the community.
Meninga is optimistic that the club will get support from the locals and fill out the seats at HBF Park, their home ground.
"We will fill our stadium. We will do that every home game," Meninga said positively.
"We want to gain the respect of that sporting community. We're the Perth Bears, I'm comfortable we're putting things together to make the Western Australian sporting community proud of us.
"We need to build respect, we're not taking over … We're going to be competitive. We're going to create an environment where it's going to be very difficult to beat us over here."
Meninga has coached the Queensland Maroons to nine Origin series victories, including the historic eight-in-a-row, and also coached for Australia on the international stage, winning two World Cup titles.
The former representative coach will become a head coach in clubland for the first time since 2001, and remains confident his recent experiences at the Raiders and the Titans can help him get the Bears off to a positive start when they enter the competition in 2027.
So far the roster is looking pretty good. But I think if the NRL is fair dinkum about making rugby league truly national the Bears should receive some compensation for the first couple of years. PNG gets hundreds of millions from the government and tax exemptions. The Bears get ZERO.