Superstar Cam Munster ‘more than open’ to Perth Bears move
The Perth Bears are zeroing in on a huge name as the competition’s newest franchise prepares to enter the league in 2027.
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Outside of staunch NSW fans, Cameron Munster was the toast of the rugby league world after his emotional performance leading Queensland to a comeback State of Origin victory.
The Maroons captain showed enormous courage to lead his state to a series-clinching Game 3 win just days after his father sadly passed away.
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Fast forward two weeks and the 30-year-old has now been linked with a jaw-dropping move to the new Perth Bears franchise.
Munster has spent his entire 12 season career with the Storm, winning two premierships in well over 200 games with the Victorian outfit.
But a number of sources reported this week that Munster is top of the list in coach Mal Meninga’s poaching raid at the Bears before the team enters the competition in 2027.
“Here’s one for you, they’ve already made approaches to Cameron Munster,” veteran journalist Paul Kent said on his podcast, Kenty Blitz.
“Now obviously he’s a big name at Melbourne and look it’s very, very early days, let me stress that.
“But Cameron Munster is more than open to moving to Perth. The club, I’m led to believe, the Storm have spoken to him about that.
“Essentially they’ve settled on the position that they will release him from his contract, but only to join Perth. Not go to any other club in the NRL.
“But if the offer comes from Perth, and the Perth suggestion is, depending on what happens with the salary cap in the new broadcast deal … you’d be looking at a minimum $1.5 million a year upwards to $2 million a year.
“So he’s going to be looking at that kind of money.”
Munster stepped into the Queensland captaincy after Game 1 this year, replacing Daly Cherry-Evans, and helped steer a remarkable turnaround following that opening defeat in Brisbane.
He’s also been impressively durable, averaging over 21 appearances a season between 2015 and last year.
It would be one heck of a splash if the Bears could secure his services for their debut season.
“Obviously Perth’s a nice place to live, so he’s open to that,” Kent continued.
“That’s very early stages, but they have approached him, he’s spoken to Melbourne as I’m led to believe, and they’ve said they’re amenable to him being released, provided he only goes to the Perth club.
“I think they need to come into the market with someone like that. He’ll be 32, turning 33, if he runs out in that first game if he does so.
“I daresay he’ll still be the Queensland captain at the time, which is a big marquee to have.”
Two other names have been mooted as targets of the Perth club, Sharks standout Blayke Brailey and Titans captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui.
Brailey, 26, has emerged as one of the premier hookers in the game in recent years and is in career-best form.
Contracted through the end of 2026, he sent a tremor through Cronulla this week when he rejected a multi-year contract extension.
Potentially able to hit the open market from November 1, James Hooper said on Fox League’s NRL 360 the Shire club may have made a “grave error” with its negotiations.
“The black, white and blue have made a grave error,” he said.
“They’ve just been a little slow out of the gates, and I’d even go as far to say they have probably lowballed (Brailey).
“If this young bloke and the dynamic running game that he has shown over the course of the last month continues to go the way it is and he’s available as of November 1, I would suspect that plenty of clubs, possibly even the Perth Bears, would pay up to a million dollars to land his signature, because you can build a club around him.”
After Braith Anasta called the saga “good timing for the Bears”, Hooper said the current offer was well below Brailey’s expectations.
“I’d say it’s around $650,000 (per year), something like that. I don’t think it’s anywhere near where it needs to be,” he said.
“If I’m looking at the Perth Bears and the names we keep hearing, they’re going to target players of the ilk and stature in the game, people like Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Cameron Munster and Blayke Brailey.
“To me, that makes a lot of sense. Great leaders and an emerging young talent.
“Tino’s got an option in his deal, which means that he is available, and Cameron would have to have a conversation with the Storm.”
Originally published as Superstar Cam Munster ‘more than open’ to Perth Bears move
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