‘It makes sense to us’: Meninga wants to reunite Burton and Sexton at the Bears

Mal Meninga believes Matt Burton could take his halves combination with Toby Sexton to a new level if they reunited in Perth, while revealing Latrell Mitchell and Sam Walker are other players of interest to the incoming franchise.

The Bears hit the November 1 free agency period with two key advantages over their rivals. The first is a 20 per cent marquee salary cap allowance that allows an existing club sponsor to top up one player’s salary. The other is first right of refusal if a player seeks to move before fulfilling an existing contract, a lever that could result in the Bears having first crack at out-of-favour Rooster Sam Walker.

However, the priority is Canterbury star Burton, who was given early permission to speak to rival clubs. The Bulldogs would like to retain him as a centre, while the Bears are prepared to play – and pay – him as a five-eighth.

Burton and Sexton, who is already signed with Perth, combined in the halves to propel the blue and whites towards finals football in 2024-2025. The Bears have already had preliminary chats with Burton’s manager and hope to ramp those up in a bid to get their man.

“I think Matty is a gifted player, a gifted human being,” Meninga said. “You talk about him as a human being first; he’s low maintenance, trains hard, understands professionalism really well, goes about his daily actions really strongly and is a great family person.

“From a football perspective, he’s very talented. Great kicking game, great running game, can play any number of positions. With the Aussie team, I played him at right centre and he played extremely well.

Matt Burton is a priority target for the Bears.Getty“I played him at left edge, played him at hooker, played him in the middle. He’s a talented athlete who needs a consistent position and work hard on that.

“That’s why he would be valuable to us, as a five-eighth. We make no secret of the fact he’s worked with Toby Sexton, so that makes sense to us.”

Asked about the prospect of reprising that halves combination, Meninga said: “That is what’s in our minds.

“They did take them to the finals as seven and six. From what I see, there is actually more in them. As they mature and get more experienced as players, that combination can work even better for us if we convince Matty to come across.

Bears coach Mal Meninga.Tony McDonough“He’s very family-oriented, hugely connected to his family. That’s the difficult thing in coming to Perth; it’s not the livability or playing in a team that’s going to be competitive, it’s more to do with being away from family and friends.”

Another player Meninga worked closely with during his time as Kangaroos coach is Rabbitohs star Latrell Mitchell.

“I love Latrell,” Meninga said. “Knowing Latrell and how tight he is with his family and farm, his lifestyle up Taree way, it would be interesting to have that conversation.

“I think Latrell is pretty happy with what he’s doing at the moment, but we’re always there to listen if there’s an opportunity.”

Another wildcard in the free-agency free-for-all is Walker. The Maroons playmaker has fallen out with the Roosters after asking for more time and money to recommit. It prompted his extension offer to be pulled from the table, although most clubs wouldn’t have the salary cap space to accommodate him immediately. How much the Roosters are willing to chip in to get him off the books remains unknown.

The Bears are looking predominantly at 2028 for their first marquee, given they have already signed 27 players for next year. However, Meninga said he would be prepared to speak to Walker if he was genuine about a shift west.

“We’d have a yarn to him, absolutely,” Meninga said. “That’s a difficult one because we bought Toby Sexton at seven. Is Sam willing to play five-eighth? I don’t know.

“We bought Jack Cole and Niwhai Puru who can play there, we’ve got Apa Twidle, a young kid we believe has a future there. We would have to make some decisions. We haven’t really discussed him at this stage, but it would be silly not to investigate if he becomes available.”

Meninga said any of the big names who are now free agents – including the 11 Kangaroos players off contract – would be of interest if they were genuinely interested in coming to Perth. However, he made it clear he had full confidence in the team he has assembled to date.

“As I keep saying to everyone, a marquee started somewhere,” Meninga said. “Everyone talks about the people we can get. I like talking about the people we’ve got.

“We’ve got a footy team with plenty of upside in it. I firmly believe with the players that have signed on already, we’ve got players with the right attitude and willingness to pull the red and black jersey on and make WA proud.

“November 1 gives you an eye to the future and anyone we buy in the future will be a player and person who will improve our club.”

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