Maroons outcasts Cameron Munster and Valentine Holmes a win away from redemption

EIGHT months ago, Cameron Munster and Valentine Holmes were handed bans from an entire Origin series. Now they will face off for rugby league’s ultimate prize.

Cameron Munster is back in the Origin frame.

ORIGIN outcasts Cameron Munster and Valentine Holmes have rebounded to prove they are strong prospects for future Queensland selection, Maroons coach Kevin Walters says.

Eight months ago, Munster and Holmes were handed bans from an entire Origin series for curfew-breaking at Queensland’s annual Emerging Origin camp.

This week they are on opposing grand final teams, having both set their careers back on solid foundations for their Melbourne and Cronulla clubs.

Walters said Munster, 22, and Holmes, 21, are young enough to earn invitations to the 2017 Emerging squad camp on a second chance.

“We have invested a lot of time in those players and Queensland will get the results of that in the next couple of years,’’ he said.

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Cameron Munster is back in the Origin frame.

“The ban finished when the Origin series finished.

“It will be awesome to see them in the grand final against each other. Playing in a grand final will be massive for their development.

“What’s been most impressive is their attitude towards their football. They have both excelled and shown a lot of maturity. They have both commented on how they have owned their mistake and wanted to show they have tried to improve.’’

The two talented backs were among eight Emerging squad members ruled out of Origin selection for 2016 by Walters and the QRL.

Munster, one of the Storm’s statistical leaders in several attacking categories this season, confessed to breaking a midnight curfew when he returned to the Emerging Origin squad’s hotel at 4am.

The 22-year-old was urged on his return to Melbourne by skipper Cameron Smith to concentrate on playing well for the Storm and his tally of 22 line-break assists in the regular season was the joint most in the statistical category by a Storm player, equal to that of Cooper Cronk.

Valentine Holmes has been in brilliant form all season.

In Saturday night’s 14-12 win over Canberra, Munster managed three tackle busts, plus a try assist in which he timed to perfection a pass to centre Chase Blair to score Melbourne’s second try.

A centre in Round 1 before Billy Slater’s season ended because of injury, the power of Munster’s kick returns from fullback saw him notch a total 105 tackle busts in the regular season, 44 more than the next highest number by a Storm teammate, Marika Koriobete. His tally of 18 line breaks was equalled only by Suliasi Vunivalu.

Holmes says he is a “better person” for experiencing his ban from Origin contention for a night out in which he jumped a queue at a Fortitude Valley taxi rank and confronted a driver when told to get out of a taxi.

Holmes said in April that Walters had been ringing him “every now and then to see how I’m travelling’’ and the grand final will be his 26th NRL match of the season for the Sharks.