NRL 2023: Wayne Bennett and Cameron Munster peace talks following Dolphins backflip
Super coach Wayne Bennett and Cameron Munster have spoken for the first time since the Storm superstar backflipped on joining the Dolphins, which sparked an angry war of words.
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Wayne Bennett says he has smoked the peace pipe with Cameron Munster and forgiven the Storm superstar over his Dolphins backflip which prompted a vicious verbal attack from the supercoach.
Munster will face Bennett’s Dolphins on Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium for the first time since his eleventh-hour decision to stay loyal to the Storm and reject becoming the face of the NRL’s new 17th franchise.
Bennett was left furious when Munster inked a Storm extension just hours before boarding a flight to England for Australia’s World Cup campaign.
The Dolphins coach savaged the Storm maestro, accusing him of being gutless for lacking the courage to personally phone Bennett and inform him he would not be coming to Redcliffe’s expansion newcomers.
Bennett’s disappointment was based largely on the close bond the pair had built during Queensland’s famous 2020 Origin series win, when Munster and the super coach combined to shock the Blues with a depleted Maroons squad.
But on the eve of Munster’s clash with the Dolphins, Bennett told News Corp he has buried the hatchet with his former Queensland Origin protege after private talks between the pair.
“We have spoken since then and we sorted it out. It’s all good,” Bennett said as he devises a Dolphins game plan to muzzle Munster at Suncorp.
“I told the truth at the time. He hadn’t called me, but I’ve moved on.
“It wasn’t a huge issue at the time in my eyes, but I just spoke honestly about what happened and my relationship with Cameron is fine.
“Cameron is a wonderful player and I’ve always had a good relationship with him.”
Asked if he believed Munster would sign with the Dolphins, Bennett said: “I don’t know. You have to ask Cameron if he was ever close to signing, but, yes, we were interested and he decided to stay at the Storm.
“The reality is Cameron isn’t playing for the Dolphins, he is with the Storm and there’s no dramas between me and him and no issue with the club.
“I will talk to Cameron like I always have, it’s no big deal to me now.”
Munster’s manager Braith Anasta lifted the lid on the saga, saying the Storm ace had every intention of calling Bennett, but was mindful of derailing Melbourne’s contract announcement.
“The concern was that if we told Wayne or Cameron had rung Wayne before Melbourne or before it was announced, then the Dolphins would put a story out,” Anasta said on NRL 360 in the lead-up to the Storm-Dolphins clash.
“We wanted to respect Melbourne and their time to announce a key signing.
“Anyway, Cameron was on his way to the airport, he had to go through Customs with the Australian team.
“Cameron didn’t get to ring Wayne before he got on the plane ... he had every intention of ringing him as soon as he landed.
“He was on the flight over there, then Wayne loads up the semi-automatic and goes, ‘Bang’ and questions Cameron’s integrity.”
The Dolphins were confident of securing Munster after tabling a monster four-year, $5.6 million deal.
It would have made Munster the highest paid player in the code, but what the Dolphins couldn’t envisage was the clout and fighting character of Storm chairman Matt Tripp, who upped the ante to win the bidding war.
“I genuinely believe he made the right decision for his family and his football career,” Tripp said.
“He has done everything in the game and I said to him, ‘I think your best footy is in front of you but your best footy is going to be in Melbourne’, which means Origin comes with that and all types of different rep footy.
“The Dolphins were the great unknown and when you go up there as the pin-up boy, it is a hard gig for someone with Cameron’s personality.
“He is a people pleaser and he would have wanted to give to everyone, which would have distracted from his footy.
“I don’t think it was a difficult decision for him in the end.
“Yes, he procrastinated for a while because there was a bit more money on the table from the Dolphins.
“The way he is going, he is on the trajectory to be one of our greats. He is up there in the conversation with (Cameron) Smith, (Cooper) Cronk and (Billy) Slater.
“He is a wonderful player with lots of footy in front of him.
“I said to him, a one-club player, 300 gamer and a legend of the Melbourne Storm, for me it was a no-brainer for him.
“Of course he had to think it through and show them a level of respect. I do think he landed in the right spot.”
Tripp said he holds no grudges to the Dolphins for poaching Melbourne trio Felise Kaufusi and Jesse and Kenny Bromwich.
“They had to do what they had to do,” he said.
“It was hard to begrudge them.
“If I was in their position I would have been doing exactly the same thing. In any situation like that or negotiation I try to put myself in the other person’s position.
“It is pretty hard to argue a defence when they were doing exactly what I would have done.
“The fact they have surprised everyone is just unbelievable. It is a credit to Wayne and the team they have cobbled together in such a short window.”
‘HE WAS COMING’: DOLPHINS PLAYERS EXPOSE MUNSTER’S BACKFLIP
Felise Kaufusi has put Cameron Munster on notice following revelations the Storm superstar told Melbourne’s Dolphins defectors he would be joining them at Redcliffe.
The NRL is bracing for one of the grudge matches of the season when Munster faces his former Melbourne teammates Kaufusi and Jesse and Kenny Bromwich in Saturday night’s Storm-Dolphins clash at Suncorp Stadium.
The Bromwich brothers and Kaufusi took a leap of faith by quitting Melbourne to head-up the new Dolphins franchise this season and the Storm premiership triumvirate were convinced Munster would follow suit.
The Dolphins tabled a massive $5.6 million deal to lure Munster to Redcliffe, only for the Maroons maestro to stay loyal at the 11th hour, inking a Storm extension just hours before heading to England for Australia’s World Cup campaign.
Munster’s backflip went down like a lead balloon with Dolphins mentor Wayne Bennett, who slammed the Storm five-eighth as gutless for failing to inform the supercoach of his decision.
Now Munster finally faces the Dolphins club he spurned and he is set to cop a defensive barrage from Redcliffe hitman Kaufusi and skipper Jesse Bromwich, who believed the Origin star would be the new franchise’s first marquee signing.
“I think Cam was pretty close to leaving,” Bromwich said ahead of the Dolphins-Storm blockbuster.
“I didn’t get in Cam’s ear too much out of respect to the Storm.
“But I know ‘Fuse’ (Kaufusi) was geeing him up big time.
“Cam actually told the boys he was coming up (to the Dolphins), so we thought he would be here.
“I don’t know what happened at the last minute, but he decided to stay.
“The thing with Munster is you never know if what’s coming out of his mouth is the truth. Cam is such a jokester that you don’t know if he is serious or not, but I would have loved to have him at the Dolphins.”
Kaufusi said he is primed to target Munster, motivated by the Storm playmaker’s claim that he stayed loyal because he had a better chance of winning premierships at Melbourne than the Dolphins.
“I was one of the ones trying to get him to come here,” Kaufusi said.
“Anyone would love to have him in their team.
“He has said stuff like that (staying in Melbourne to win premierships), having a little dig at us, and it makes me want to play even harder to get one over him.
“It’s nothing harmful, but it makes you more motivated for the next time you play them.
“If he comes my way I’ll be trying to get him.
“If I get my hands on him…he is cheeky on and off the field.”
Even Munster’s manager Braith Anasta believed Bennett had his man, but the Storm upped the ante with a beefed-up deal to ensure the champion pivot would not follow the exodus to the Dolphins.
“If I’m being brutally honest ... at one point I was certain he was going to go to the Dolphins,” Anasta said in March.
“I hadn’t told the Dolphins that but we were very close to it.”
Despite Munster’s assurances, Bromwich believed the Storm were always in the box seat to win the bidding war.
“Deep down, I believed he would stay at Melbourne,” Bromwich said.
“I knew if they lost him as well, after we had left, it would have been a massive loss for the club and the Storm were going to pull out all the stops to keep him.
“I wasn’t too shocked he stayed.
“Would we have loved to have him at the Dolphins? For sure, but once he signed and was staying in Melbourne, the best thing for us was to move on and focus on what we could control at our new club.”
The Dolphins and Storm go into the clash locked on 14 competition points. Remarkably, the NRL’s 17th team is sixth on percentages with a 6-4 record, Bromwich says he isn’t totally shocked by the Dolphins’ performances.
“It has been a welcome surprise for everyone, but I always knew we could come out and be competitive,” he said.
“I truly believed we would win a few footy games, but the way we have jelled together so quickly has been outstanding.
“Our club is only very young and to be playing for each other so strongly is a great sign.
“We’ve only been together since January, other clubs have had years together, so I’m really proud of the group for the standards we are setting.”
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