Munster is like any young bloke who loves an afternoon at the pub, a beer and a punt.

However, being a million-dollar professional athlete, earning $20,000 a week, he has more to lose.

He admits the highs and lows of being a punter not only became super expensive but affected his on-field performances in the NRL.

It led to mood swings, erratic behaviour and poor form.

This is why the Melbourne Storm and Queensland Maroons superstar recently checked himself into a rehab facility in Brisbane under the care of psychiatrists and addiction experts.

For gambling and binge-drinking.

Munster has now returned to Melbourne Storm training with a new resolve and determination to overcome the very serious issues that threatened his career.

Issues that included one shocking day, while in Covid lockdown, that he lost $50,000 on the punt.

The 27-year-old insists that, despite being fined and suspended by the NRL over the post-season white-powder video scandal with teammate Brandon Smith, he was not treated for drug use.

This is the remarkable story of one of rugby league’s most colourful characters and his private battle to beat alcohol and gambling addictions.

THE REHAB

The Banyans Health and Wellness centre is at Bowen Hills in Brisbane, just a 10-minute drive from Suncorp Stadium where he works his magic each winter in State of Origin.

The facility is “for individuals experiencing depression and anxiety, chronic stress and burnout, drug and alcohol dependency and eating disorders” according to its website.

Munster went into the centre under a fake name.

Known as Jack, other patients quickly recognised the face, although he was hardly the bright and chirpy personality we so often seen on TV. He was at rock bottom.

Only this venue could save his rugby league career.

These places aren’t cheap. The inpatient programs can cost up to $3000 a day.

Melbourne Storm did not contribute a penny. Munster funded it all himself, close to six figures.

His mobile phone was confiscated the moment he checked in.

For the first two weeks he was oblivious to the outside world. No Instagram or Twitter. No texting. No gambling apps.

“I didn’t even know the Everest was on,” he laughs.

Inside, Munster is allowed one phone call each night from a landline to his heavily pregnant partner in Melbourne. Nothing else.

Bianca McMahon is due to give birth to their first child next week.

This was in the back of his mind every day. The responsibility that he was soon to be a father.

And the guilt that he couldn’t be in Melbourne with her.

“I felt like a terrible partner,” he says. “She should be relying on me, not having to put up with all this stuff, although it was for the best in the long run.”

Munster spent his days undergoing various therapies.

“I needed to get away from the game, reinvent myself and get mentally healthy,” he explains.

“I had four or five psych sessions a week. I ate better and followed the complete recovery curriculum. It was a crazy, whirlwind experience but I never felt more at peace.”

His sessions will continue as an outpatient over zoom once a fortnight and with a psychologist employed by Melbourne Storm.

THE GAMBLING

Munster admits his form has suffered as a result of weekend betting sprees.

He confirms that one day of lockdown earlier this year he had a shocker and lost $50,000. More regular losses were around $5000.

“The anxiety it brings,” he explains. “At one stage I had no fingernails left. I’d be chewing them off while watching a race.

“Every Saturday I was in a gambling routine. Some days I’d win and have a really good game.

“Some days I might lose a lot of money and it was like a roller coaster.

“I’d have this anxiety about a big loss hanging over my head and it showed in the way I played. The days when you do your arse are shocking.”

He even once had a bet as he was in the sheds before a game and hid in a toilet cubicle to watch it on his phone without his teammates or coaching staff knowing.

That’s how desperate it got.

“I’m so embarrassed now to even think about it,” Munster says.

“I don’t want to be walking down this dark path anymore.

“I’ve sat down and worked it out. Some years I’ve lost more than six figures from my savings.”

It was not just his football that became inconsistent and erratic.

“My partner knew when I lost money,” Munster says. “I was snappy. I was always on my phone trying to find the next winner. I need to change. I’ve got a baby on the way.

“For me to play my best footy I need to be off it.”

THE BINGE DRINKING

Drinking and gambling became a lethal mix.

He’d not only wake with a hangover but a dent in his bank account.

“When you drink you should be celebrating something,” he says.

“I was doing it and writing myself off. Maybe to release a bit of anxiety.

‘I was getting to a stage where … when I got out to have a drink I couldn’t stop.”

He’s much wiser now from the lessons of rehab.

“I’ve never had an issue when I’m sober,” he says. “But the nights I have 10 or 15 beers I make poor decisions.

“You wake up the next morning and the anxiety is terrible. ‘What did I do? How much money did I lose?’ You look at your bank account.”

It’s early days but he has now given up drinking and gambling.

“I read a book called kicking the drink,” he says. “It’s a drug and it’s an addictive drug.

“I had urges when I was in there but I’ve found ways to deal with it now.

“In Melbourne I can get out and have a quiet drink.

“In Queensland, a fan will come up and buy me a drink. Then 10 people will buy me a drink. It gets messy.”

Teammate Brandon Smith recently spoke on a podcast of a boozy culture at Melbourne.

Munster shoots this down.

“I’ve made mistakes but it’s not spread around the team,” he says.

“Knowing Brandon he can just say things like that.

“It doesn’t look great with my situation but there’s definitely no drinking culture.

“I think he was a bit mentally drained with all that’s been happening around him. As the coach (Craig Bellamy) said, you don’t achieve what we have if you’re a team of drunks.

“We obviously like a beer, but I won’t be drinking for the next 12 months, or hopefully longer.

“Maybe for the rest of my career if I can. Let’s see how 12 months goes.

“It’s a tough one to say I’ll never have another drink. Can I have a glass of wine with my partner when we have a nice dinner? Not in the next year. I’ve got to knuckle down.”

THE WHITE POWDER

Munster was fined $30,000 by the NRL and suspended for a week.

He has been instructed by his legal advisers not to go into specific details of the white substance in a video that went viral on social media at a post-season party.

The face-to-face meeting with his coach, Craig Bellamy, hurt more than the fine or suspension.

“He called me a silly .…,” Munster says bluntly.

“It was really bad, just hours before the Dally M Awards.

“I don’t know if he was angry, probably more disappointed in me.

“He said to me ‘I want to keep you here but I’m only one person. The board members and owners and everyone else are really pissed off.’

“You know it’s another learning curve about how my compulsive and addictive behaviour led to it.

“The only reason I’m still at this club is that I’ve come back with a plan to deal with it.

“That was me going to rehab, me paying for it. The club and the board had obviously had enough.

“There’s no question they considered getting rid of me.”

LOST MATES

This is a tragic story of two young men who took their own lives.

Munster grew up with them in Rockhampton. They were junior footy teammates.

It had a devastating effect on him.

“I’ve never told anyone in the media about this,” he says. “I grew up playing footy with them. They were close friends and both took their own lives.

“I’m not going to say their names because I don’t want to bring more hurt to their families.

“I just went out binge drinking. One of the boys took his life because of gambling debts.

“It’s another important reason why I went and got professional help. These are horrible wounds. Although please don’t write it as though it’s an excuse for what I’ve done.”

THE OLD BOYS

Munster has apologised to former players for his behaviour.

To the almost 200 players who have worn the jersey since the club’s inception in 1998.

“I know a lot of the old boys will be off me,” he said. “All of them, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and anyone who has worn the jersey. I sent an apology on a video to all of them.

“We’ve got a saying here: ‘When you drink from the well, remember who dug it.’

“I pretty much destroyed what they created and tarnished the image of the club.

“It’s up to me to get their respect back, not through these words, not through this story but via my actions in the future. This is really important to me.”

THE FAMILY

“I often think about mum, dad, my sister and what effect it has had on them,” he concedes.

“My mum and dad have given me the best of everything. I hate letting them down.

“I’m only here because my parents worked two jobs to allow me to play footy.”

He copped a blast from his mum after the white powder video.

“My mum speaks from the heart,” he explains.

“My partner lost her mum to breast cancer. It makes me feel so fortunate to still have mine.

“The important thing now is to make my loved ones happy and even proud.”

Munster’s partner is due to give birth a few days before Christmas.

He understands the huge responsibilities that go with it and the need to change.

“I didn’t see my partner for 16 weeks while we were up on the Sunshine Coast,” he says.

“It was tough on her own. This baby is going to change our lives. I have to be more responsible. I have to be a good, supportive father and I will be.”

THE MONEY

For a punter, Munster has done remarkably well with his investments.

His manager and financial adviser have helped him buy four properties, three of them as investments in Queensland.

“I’ve also just bought a new one in Melbourne for when we have the baby,” he says.

He has mortgages, which is why gambling was so risky.

He is also now thinking about life after football.

“Maybe I’ll get a trade,” he says. “I’ve thought about being an electrician. Even a business degree.

“I won’t coach. No one’s going to listen to me (laughs).”

THE CLUB

Munster has two years remaining on his contract.

There has been much speculation that the NRL’s 17th team, the Dolphins, desperately want him.

Munster is not so sure.

“I’d like to be a one-club player and be here for the rest of my career,” he says.

“I’ve made that known to Trippy (chairman Matt Tripp). It’s up to me now to play good footy for the next couple of years. I know when I’m at my best I’m up there with the best players in the comp.

“You had me at number two (top 50 list) last year. After last season I’d be lucky to make the top 20.”

THE GOALS

The Storm superstar reveals NRL legend Johnathan Thurston contacted him when he was caught up in the video scandal.

“JT told me to go and find what makes me happy and set goals I need to aspire to,” he says, pulling out his mobile phone.

He opens the notes app where his goals for 2021 are listed.

He looks at it every day, although, “I know them off by heart,” he says.

1 A premiership in two years.

2 No drinking for 12 months.

3 No gambling, horses, dishlickers, indefinitely.

4 Win Storm’s player of the year by 2023.

5 Have five investment properties before I’m 30.

6 Win the Dally M award by 2026.

7 Be a great father and partner.

“I’m dreaming big here,” he says, “But these goals are all doable.

“I don’t want to be just a good player, I want to be a great player.

“I’ve got no one holding my hand. It’s up to me.”

THE LEADERSHIP

Munster has twice been dumped from Storm’s leadership group for off-field indiscretions.

“There’s more to leadership than your actions on the footy field and I’ve done a few stupid things over the years,” he admits.

He’s not proud of it but insists he still has a role to play.

“I like being the middleman between the younger players and the senior guys,” he says.

“So I’d be the person who would talk to them and then talk to Cameron and the leaders.

“I’d like to be a leader and say don’t do this and that. I can talk the house down like I’m doing right now but I don’t expect to be judged on what I’ve achieved in the last six weeks since rehab. I need to show people at this club that it’s long term.”

THE FITNESS

Munster has returned to Melbourne Storm training three weeks ahead of schedule, such is his determination to make amends in 2022.

We meet in an office at Melbourne Storm headquarters. His skin is glowing. He’s happy and in a great head space.

In rehab the day starts with breakfast at 8.30am.

Munster climbed out of bed at 6.30am each day to work out in the gym.

Storm’s high performance team do tests to measure fitness and endurance.

Munster broke his personal best on Wednesday.

His times were the best of all the players who returned to training this week.

“I was playing overweight at the back end of the year,” he admits. “I’m now five kilos lighter.

“In hindsight, I took it all for granted, just sort of glided through the year.

“I’m getting older now and the game’s getting faster.

“There’s a lot of pressure when you’re on a lot of money at a successful club.”

THE COACH

Super coach Craig Bellamy knows Munster has a long way to go. So far so good.

“He’s never come back before schedule like this time,” Bellamy says. “There’s something about him … you can see he’s more consistent.

“Sometimes he’d come in happy and the next day he’d be really quiet. Every day could be different.

“The consistency aspect is not just with his footy but his life. He’s in a good routine.

“It’s (rehab) done him the world of good. Look, we’re all human. Things happen. We weren’t happy about what happened, in fact I was angry.

“I said he had to embrace what rehab was about. Not just go in there to fill in time.”

I put it to Bellamy that a lesser player might have been sacked. That Munster was too valuable, too good a player to cut free.

“That’s part of it, I’m not going to bullshit there,” he admits.

“I didn’t know how much he was gambling.

“The one thing I’ve always admired about Cameron is that there is a really nice side to him. He cares for people. He cares for his teammates and he cares for our club. I’ve seen it.

“Part of his aura is that he’s not perfect, a bit different and a bit inconsistent. You take the good with the bad. I just know in my heart that he’s a good, decent person.”

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