Cameron Munster reveals mid-year move with wife that changed his mind about quitting NRL season
The Melbourne Storm five-eighth was ready to give up and turn his focus to 2025.
Cameron Munster has revealed how close he came to ending his NRL season and getting groin surgery, before a trip to Fiji with his wife and kids made him change his mind. The Melbourne Storm five-eighth has struggled with a groin issue all season and missed about three months in the middle of the year.
He'll need to undergo surgery in the off-season, but has managed to avoid the knife and get back on the field in time to lead the Storm into the finals. But speaking on Wednesday, the 29-year-old revealed he got so frustrated that he considered getting the surgery done and focusing on the 2025 season instead.
"I was pretty frustrated and ready to pretty much tell the doctors just go and do it (surgery) now and have the year off, and pretty much just adapt and go for a good pre-season and hopefully have a good year next year,” he said. “So for probably an eight-week period there, I had enough. I wasn’t getting any better."
But Munster said a mid-season getaway to Fiji with wife Bianca and their kids was the perfect tonic, and he changed his mind. “Then I went away for a week to Fiji and just come back and it felt really good. I was a bit surprised, but I’ve had no issues since," he revealed. “I’ll come in (to the finals) feeling good mentally and physically, which is ideal."
The injury meant Munster missed the entire State of Origin series as Queensland went down 2-1 to NSW. But it means the five-eighth is fresh and raring to go for the Storm's finals campaign.
“I think missing out of that Origin series might have been a blessing in disguise," he admitted. "Last couple of years have probably be a little bit flat going into the finals, so feeling fresh, ready to go. I’m excited. I know I’ve had the luxury of winning two (premierships) and having that feeling, and we’ve got a great opportunity for this squad to able to do that."
Cameron Munster keen to atone for 2021 near-miss
Munster said he's thriving on the opportunity of winning a premiership as a senior leader, after being surrounded by the likes of Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk in previous years. “It’s a driving factor to win one without those three and to say that I’ve had a chance to win it with some other guys," he added. “But for me to be able to do that, I need to play some good footy in the final series and be able to steer the team with Hughesy (Jahrome Hughes) to get that opportunity.”
Munster won premierships with the Storm in 2017 and 2020, but the pain of 2021 is also a motivating factor. Like this year, the Storm finished minor premiers in 2021 but were beaten by the Panthers in the preliminary final.
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Penrith have gone on to win three titles in a row, but Munster reckons they were the most beatable in 2021. "In 2022 and 2023, Penrith were the best side all year, but in 2021 it was anyone's competition. I think that was the most hurtful thing," Munster said this week.
"Anyone could have won it and I think that's what burns me, burns Bellyache (coach Craig Bellamy) and burns half the squad. That was probably a year gone begging for us. Of course we'd like to make amends. You can't dwell on the past but hopefully we can learn from it."
