on a tour that had seen the NSW vs Qld rivalry come into play in an Australian team, New Zealand won the dead rubber 3rd test at Carlaw Park in Auckland 18–0. St Helens After his displays on the 1982 Kangaroo tour, Meninga was in high demand with English club sides. For the 1984–85 Rugby Football League season he signed to play for St. Helens, who had paid around £30,000 for his services to play in the Australian off-season and he helped the club to victory in the Premiership. He was bought by BBC commentator and former Saints forward Ray French while he was in Australia covering the 1984 Great Britain Lions tour. St Helens' rivals Wigan were also after him and had papers ready for him to sign. French had accidentally left the St Helens contract in his hotel room so asked Wigan chairman Maurice Lindsay if he could borrow his; unbelievably, the normally astute Lindsay agreed and handed over the papers. French crossed out any reference to Wigan and changed it to "St Helens" instead, stealing the star from under the Pies' noses. Mal Meninga played left-, i.e. number 4, and scored 2-tries in St. Helens 28–16 victory over Wigan in the 1984 Lancashire County Cup Final during the 1984–85 season at Central Park, Wigan on Sunday 28 October 1984. On 11 May 1985 Meninga added further silverware, scoring two memorable long-range tries as St Helens defeated Hull Kingston Rovers 36-16 in the Premiership Final. Meninga didn't manage to serve a second spell at Knowsley Road, for a variety of reasons, not least being a succession of injuries (three broken arms suffered in 1987 and 1988 respectively) that also punctuated his career in Australia. Yet he remains a legendary figure in international rugby league, and his season at St Helens has been described as the most significant of any overseas import in Britain. Canberra Meninga joined Souths teammate Gary Belcher at the Canberra Raiders who played in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership. Souths coach Wayne Bennett joined them at the club as co-coach alongside Australian national coach, Don Furner in 1987. Despite suffering a broken arm in a sickening collision with the goal posts in the Raider's Round 10 match with Manly-Warringah at the Raiders then home ground Seiffert Oval and subsequently missing 10 weeks (including Queensland's successful 1987 State of Origin series and the one-off