NRL 2021: Cameron Munster responds to ‘grubby’ jibes, opens up on Storm title quest
Cameron Munster has declared he won’t let “grubbiness” stand in the way of Melbourne’s pursuit of another NRL premiership after sending a warning against Gold Coast.
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Storm star Cameron Munster vows he has abandoned the “grubbiness” that made him an NRL villain and is ready to lead Melbourne in their quest for back-to-back premierships.
Munster produced one of his best performances of the season in tearing apart the Gold Coast Titans on Thursday night to deliver Melbourne a record 19th straight victory.
It was the type of dominance the Storm five-eighth has become renowned for, but has not produced regularly in 2021.
Munster has had a turbulent season on a number of fronts.
He was in solid form before sustaining a foot injury in Round 9 which saw him sidelined for a month.
Munster returned in State of Origin I underdone and was exposed as Queensland suffered a record 50-6 defeat.
He was also fined for lashing out at Blues forward Liam Martin with his foot then committed a similar offence days later against Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
Munster was criticised heavily for his behaviour and his form post-Origin after Queensland’s 2-1 series loss was not up to his usual standards, prompting the 26-year-old to take a look at himself.
“It was a whirlwind Origin series,” Munster said.
“There were high expectations from a lot of people for me to perform after what I did last year, then I didn’t perform this year.
“There was a lot of pressure going into the games. Was I ready and could I perform like I did last year?
“It was a bit of a let-down and I got a bit frustrated. I was being called a grub a lot around the game. That was on me.
“I just want to make sure I play some clean football at the back end of the year and play the footy I know I can play. I don’t want to get into any of the grubbiness.”
Munster’s second half domination against the Titans — which included a try, try-assist, two line breaks and five tackle busts — was a positive sign in Melbourne’s hunt for back-to-back titles.
It came on the back of a brutal spray from coach Craig Bellamy who challenged Munster to take control of a team missing halfback Jahrome Hughes (concussion).
If he isn’t rested, Munster is on track to play his 149th NRL game against Parramatta at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday and said he had to lead by example.
“We got a bit of a rocket at halftime from ‘Bellyache’ so I put it on myself, being in the spine and the most experienced player,” Munster said.
“He gave everyone a rocket but especially me. I don’t know if it’s me or what, but every time he sprays everyone he looks at me.
“I don’t know if I’m his go-to to look at, but every time has a go at someone or a word to the whole group he’s usually looking into my eyes. I don’t know if it’s a love-hate relationship we’ve got going on or he just wants to look into my eyes.
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“I need to take the reins. I know my best football is up with the best of them. I need to be a bit more consistent in games.
“I can really turn it on and show what I can do in big games, but I need to make it consistent each and every week.
“There is a lot of speculation when I don’t play my best – am I up there with the best?
“I’m really happy with the way I played but there’s a lot of improvement in the team to go forward.”
With champion hooker Cameron Smith retired, Melbourne’s next crop of leaders are going to be key to the Storm’s success this season.
Bellamy said the Storm needed Munster to play with that sort of attitude consistently if they are to go all the way again in 2021.
“Without a doubt,” Bellamy said.
“He was probably a little bit disappointed in his first half. He took control.
“I knew he had his head in the second half. If he hadn‘t come up with the second half he did, I’m not sure we would have got the points.
“We haven’t had all our players there but in some ways with the way we’ve played the last three or four weeks, we are waiting for September.
“I don’t particularly like that. If you go out there you play.
“But he’s been through an Origin series as well. He had one week off, but other than that he’s played all the games.
“Some guys come out of Origin reasonably good and some don’t. Munster has always been a guy that takes a bit of time to come out of Origin.
“It flattens them physically and mentally. But his second half was very encouraging and hopefully he can turn that into 80 minutes next week.”
Munster has had some excuses for his up-and-down form.
The Lisfranc injury in his foot has not fully healed and the rise of Hughes this season has taken some of the pressure off him to be the chief creator.
But Munster is determined to have a big finish to the season and help the Storm defend their premiership.
“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster,” he said.
“I felt like I was playing some really good football before Origin and then I did my foot against Souths. I came back three or four weeks later to play Origin and didn’t have any fitness under my belt before I played.
“I was a little bit behind the eight-ball and thought I was up for it but got my pants pulled down and felt like I wasn’t ready. That was on me.
“My foot is getting a lot better and that’s showing in my performances. I’m a bit more comfortable running and to get tackled a bit more.
“I’m showing the ball, running it more and trying to make breaks for the players outside and inside me.
“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster season and everyone has injuries, but all I can do now is focus on the back end of the year. It’s crunch time and we need to play our best football. That means I need to be on.
“I need to get off the couch and start pulling my finger out and leading the boys around.
“When the times get tough and in the balance, nine times out of 10 I’m really excited to get the team out of the trenches.”
The Storm will be looking to break the 1975 Roosters‘ record when they chase their 20th straight win against the Eels.
GRANT THROWS DOWN GAUNTLET IN STORM HOOKER BATTLE
Storm dynamo Harry Grant has thrown down the gauntlet to Brandon Smith, declaring he wants Melbourne’s No. 9 jersey permanently after producing the best game of his NRL career.
Grant was electric as Melbourne overcame a slow start to clinch a 19th straight victory with a 34-20 win against the Gold Coast Titans on Thursday night.
The win equalled the 1975 Roosters’ record for the longest winning streak in premiership history. Melbourne will attempt to set a new benchmark against Parramatta next Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium.
Grant ran for a stunning 124m, scored a try, made 41 tackles, busted five tackles and registered two line breaks in a fantastic performance to help the Storm get home at Cbus Super Stadium.
It was only the Queensland Origin hooker’s second starting stint of the season. Smith, who was rested on Thursday night, has been Melbourne’s preferred No. 9 for most of the year.
Grant, 23, said he wanted to prove to coach Craig Bellamy he was an 80-minute option at dummy-half.
“For sure, everyone wants to start,” Grant said when asked if he had a point to prove.
“I see myself as an 80-minute player down the track. However long down the track that is, I don’t know, that’s up to the coaches.
“That’s what I want to be and do. It’s definitely an opportunity to push for that.
“It was a bit of a different role to what I’ve been playing.
“I wasn’t happy with my first-half performance so I tried to correct a few things and the second half was a bit better.”
What Bellamy does with the make-up of his team for the last two rounds of the season and finals remains to be seen. Smith has been one of Melbourne’s best this year, scoring 10 tries in 20 games and starting every match.
Playing his 28th NRL match, Grant had to absorb the intense opening exchanges against a fired-up Titans team before he took control of the game alongside Cameron Munster in the second half.
“It was pretty hard for Harry to start with, he had to adapt in a way,” Bellamy said. “Brandon has started nearly all year and taken the edge off the opposition before Harry comes on.
“We didn’t get too many opportunities around the play-the-ball for Harry to get out in the first 20 minutes and he probably struggled with that a little bit.
“The last part of the first half and his second half was outstanding. He really caused them some problems.”
A Yeppoon product, Grant had a breakout season on-loan to the Wests Tigers last year, playing 15 games before making his Origin debut in Queensland’s epic decider win.
But his stint at the Tigers cost him the chance of playing in Melbourne’s 2020 premiership team, something he wants to make amends for this year as the Storm chase back-to-back titles.
“I’m excited, I haven’t played finals at NRL level,” Grant said.
“I’ve been involved in the club when the boys are playing but I haven’t played in any.
“It’s a good opportunity and I’ve taken a few lessons from senior players and playing finals in the Intrust Super Cup. It’s now about putting them into practice and having a strong finals campaign.”
STORM WARNING AFTER EQUALLING RECORD
— Joel Gould
The Storm made history by equalling the Roosters’ 46-year-old winning streak after being stunned into gear by a Titans outfit that threatened to pull off the upset of the season.
Chasing the 1975 Eastern Suburbs record of 19 wins on the trot, the Storm were error riddled and complacent in the first half before big guns Cameron Munster and Harry Grant turned it on after a halftime rev-up by coach Craig Bellamy to secure a 34-20 win.
Melbourne lost winger George Jennings who reaggravated the PCL in his left knee, but the Storm got a huge lift from starting fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen who had his best game since returning from a lengthy concussion lay-off.
Bellamy fired the first pre-finals warning shot to rivals by resting powerhouses Justin Olam and Brandon Smith for the Titans clash, along with giving Dale Finucane and Jahrome Hughes an extra week’s rest after both suffered concussions the previous week against Canberra.
It was a sign the premiership and not the record was paramount.
There are remarkable parallels with the Roosters team of 1975 with Melbourne winning the opening game of the season, losing the next two and then winning 19 in a row just as Eastern Suburbs did.
“I am really proud of this group to win 19 in a row. That is hard to do in any era I’d imagine and particularly in the era we are in now,” Bellamy said. “It hasn’t been pretty at times but that is how footy goes. There are ups and down like anything else in life. To win 19 games in a row in the circumstances were are in, I am really proud.”
The only symmetry that will matter for Bellamy now though is if his team can go back-to-back as the Roosters of 1974/75 did.
MUNSTER MAGIC
Munster said during the week that the Storm probably needed to have a loss before the finals to reignite their premiership tilt, and he almost got his way as the Titans led 16-12 at halftime thanks to a double by rookie fullback Jayden Campbell.
It was the mercurial Storm five-eighth, who in reality hates losing, that got them going in the second half. He burrowed over to score early and was heavily involved in tries to Josh Addo-Carr and Nicho Hynes to stamp his class on the match. When Munster cut through to set Addo-Carr up for his 23rd try of the year it was game over.
PAPS POWER
Playing his first starting game at fullback since Magic Round, last year’s Clive Churchill Medal winner showed glimpses of his best.
Papenhuyzen ran with confidence for 130m, but it was his two line break assists and try assist that showed he had his timing in attack back. Bellamy now has the great headache of whether to start Papenhuyzen or Hynes, who played halfback, in the custodian’s role.
“I thought he was better tonight because he started and he played more time,” Bellamy said.
“That was always the plan, not to rush him. We knew we had to build his confidence slowly but surely and that other teams would go after him. It was just about getting his fitness and involvements in games over the last three weeks and we always had this game picked out as the one to start him. I thought his involvements tonight were really good and a step forward.”
TITANS TIGHTROPE
The Titans, who lost co-captain Kevin Proctor to a shoulder injury, have not beaten a current top six side this year but are still provisionally inside the top eight with their finals hopes hanging in the balance.
Remarkably, if all the favourites win this round they will still be in the eight at the end of round 23, but next Thursday’s clash with Newcastle on the Sunshine Coast is now a do or die showdown.
TITANS’ FINALS HOPES FADE AS CAMPBELL SHINES
— Travis Meyn
Jayden Campbell leapt out of his father’s shadow but the Titans’ finals hopes are on thin ice after Melbourne sunk the Gold Coast to equal the greatest winning streak in premiership history.
Needing a win to stay in the top eight, the Titans were on track to produce the boilover of the season when they burst out to a 10-nil lead against the NRL premiership favourites.
But they watched a 16-12 halftime lead turn into a 14 – point loss as Melbourne whiz Cameron Munster terrorised a lacklustre David Fifita to leave the Titans walking a finals tightrope.
The Titans must win their last two games of the season against the Knights and Warriors to guarantee a finals appearance for the first time since 2016.
TITANS STUMBLE AGAIN
The Titans are still yet to beat a top six team this season.
They were playing a confident brand of football in the first half to open up a 16-12 lead, but fell apart after the break.
Five-eighth Ash Taylor was ineffective and placed on report after kneeing Nicho Hynes.
Hooker Erin Clark’s insistence on picking up the ball with one hand cost the Titans dearly when he made a crucial error in attacking territory.
Fifita looked disinterested as he only managed seven runs and one tackle bust, with Munster tearing him apart on the edge.
If the Titans are serious about playing finals they have to find some football smarts and consistency against the top sides.
“We weren’t good enough in the second half. That’s the difference against the really good sides,” Titans coach Justin Holbrook said.
“You can’t afford to have a rest or take a break because they’re ready to punish you.
“We’ve just got to worry about ourselves. We can’t control any other game over the weekend.”
HEY PRESTO JR’S A STAR
Campbell, 21, has long lived in his father’s shadow. Not anymore.
The dynamo fullback proved he is an NRL star in the making with a first half double to leave the Storm stunned.
Campbell pounced on a loose ball to give the Gold Coast a 10-nil lead but his highlight came late in the first half after the Storm edged ahead.
The 77kg featherweight soared high above Munster to snare a Taylor kick and bag his first NRL double.
It took Preston three seasons and 26 first grade games to score his first double – also against the Storm.
The Titans have high hopes for Campbell and in only his fourth NRL game he showed he could be a long-term prospect for the Gold Coast.
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