Storm NRL star Cameron Munster’s rise to business-savvy millionaire

Cameron Munster’s on-field transformation has triggered an off-field revolution that has set him up for a profitable post-NRL career.

It is a rags-to-riches tale of a “rat bag” teenager from Rockhampton who has morphed into a business-savvy millionaire at the Melbourne Storm.

Welcome to Cameron Munster Inc.

Four years ago, Munster’s rugby league career was at the crossroads, the Storm ace kicked out of Australia’s World Cup squad by Mal Meninga following an alcohol-fuelled pub spat that saw him sent to Melbourne for crisis talks with Craig Bellamy.

The Storm super coach laid it on the line. In typical Bellamy style, no punches were pulled. He told Munster to wake up and get off the booze … or get out of the Melbourne Storm.

Fast forward to March 2021 and Munster has become a juggernaut on and off the field.

He is the king of Queensland rugby league after winning the Wally Lewis Medal for his matchwinning magic which piloted the Maroons to an epic boilover of the Blues in last year’s Origin series triumph.

Munster’s on-field transformation has triggered an off-field revolution that has seen him branch out into property investment and business ventures, all while rubbing shoulders with Queensland’s most powerful people.

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Cameron Munster has become a juggernaut on and off the field. Picture: Jason Edwards

He has a direct line to Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who was impressed with Munster’s disarming, genuine style after a chance meeting at a restaurant last year.

In the past 12 months, Munster decided he needed to get serious about planning for life after football. This September, he turns 27. The COVID crisis last year, which saw the NRL premiership put on ice for three months, forced every well-paid player to face their mortality in the sport.

Munster, on $900,000 this season, isn’t about to go broke anytime soon — but he will if he doesn’t use his money wisely.

“I started studying a Certificate IV in Business last year when COVID hit,” Munster says.

“As an NRL player, you aren’t in this game for long. I’ve hard to learn the hard way.

“As a teenager at the Storm, I thought this is going to last forever. I was always the youngest bloke in the team and suddenly I’m almost the oldest guy in the team.

“I’m getting to my 30s. I’ve nearly been at Melbourne for 10 years.

“In the last year or so, I’ve watched a few of my teammates at the Storm who have developed their own business ideas and I thought I’ve reached a stage of my career where I have to start thinking of a life beyond football.

“If I can set a platform for myself now, I can find some stability for myself when I retire from footy.”

Adds his manager Shaun Pyne succinctly: “The rat bag has turned himself into a businessman.”

Cameron Munster decided he needed to get serious about planning for life after football. Picture: Jason Edwards

The first step for Munster was purchasing his first home in Melbourne, which piqued his interest in other commercial opportunities.

Suddenly, Munster is whipping himself up into a corporate tsunami. He has sponsorship deals with Puma and Musashi and is about to release a range of products from shirts and caps to an alcoholic ginger beer.

Working with Terella Brewing, he has an ownership stake in a ginger-infused brew coined ‘Mad Dog’, a tribute to his nickname at the Storm.

There is an alcohol-free version for kids called Drop Kick, which will be released in school tuck shops across Australia, and he has signed on as an ambassador for a number of charities in the mental-health space.

Munster is known as the NRL’s larrikin, a veritable throwback to beer-swilling league stars of the 1970s and 1980s, but he is nobody’s fool. He is acutely aware his knockabout persona is the perfect lever to position himself as the fun-loving Aussie bloke with whom Joe Public can identify.

“I am excited about launching some of these products,” he said.

“I’m interested in business and investment.

“I’ve already bought my own house in Melbourne and I have started looking at a few other properties. Making that first investment to get my home made me think about other ventures I could be involved in.”

Cameron Munster in the brewing game

Cameron Munster's Ginger Beer brand.

Working with Ringers Western, Munster has also devised his own casual clothing range.

When social media went berserk over images of a hungover-looking Munster in last year’s Queensland Origin team photo after a Byron Bay bender celebrating the Storm’s premiership win, the Maroons pivot pounced.

“I’ve created a shirt for Australia Day next year with some quirky photos of my face from that Origin team shot after I went on a bender. We’re making stubby holders and bar mats,” Munster said.

“With my ginger beer, we will make it organic where we won’t have certain chemicals in the beer. There’s also a range for kids.

“I wouldn’t call myself book smart but I believe I network well with people. By nature, I love having a yarn with people and having a joke.

“I would never want someone to think that I’m better than them. I admire the Australian attitude of being humble and having a beer and that sums me up as a person.

“I think I appeal to the ordinary Aussie bloke because I am who I am.

“I don’t consider myself to better than anyone.”

Cameron Munster in action during the 2020 NRL grand final. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

At rock bottom following his World Cup camp drama, Munster, too reliant on alcohol, sought counselling at the Storm. Privately, he confessed he was battling with anxiety and low self-esteem.

Just weeks after a sizzling Origin debut for Queensland in 2017, he casually asked a friend, ‘Honestly … do you think I’m really good enough to be in the NRL?’

But Munster’s agent Pyne has detected a marked change in the Melbourne maestro.

“I first met Cameron when he was 18 and I have seen a massive evolution in him as a person,” he says.

“He was this country kid from Rocky and I’m really proud of how much he has matured and developed a business focus. He now walks into business meetings and is not out of his depth dealing with chief executives and corporate heavy-hitters.

“Cam has come on board to support ‘Grab Life By The Balls’, a charity for men’s mental health. Next week, we have 135 bakeries on board who will donate $1 from every pie sold to support a cause Cameron is passionate about through his own battles.

“Sadly, his partner’s mum passed away recently from cancer and Cam wants to make a difference as an ambassador for Ovarian Cancer Australia.

“Cam doesn’t take life too seriously and that’s why kids and people from all walks of life love him. When he walks into a room, he goes out of his way to make people feel better about themselves, which is a rare quality.

“He is close to being the No. 1 player in the NRL today, but not so long ago, Cam’s career was at a bit of a crossroads.

“He could have easily gone off the rails, but that incident in the Australian team was the wake-up call for him that he could lose it all.

“Now he is planning for the future. He has done remarkably well to turn himself around.”

Originally published as Storm NRL star Cameron Munster’s rise to business-savvy millionaire