NRL 2023: Cameron Munster revelation will leave Wayne Bennett, Dolphins ropeable
Cameron Munster’s manager Braith Anasta has dished the dirt on the Storm star’s eleventh-hour Dolphins backflip, a revelation that will further infuriate Wayne Bennett.
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Cameron Munster’s manager has revealed the Queensland Origin star had “one foot in the door at the Dolphins” before his eleventh-hour backflip to remain loyal to the Storm.
Munster’s agent Braith Anasta says he was left stunned when the Storm ace informed him of his plan to knock back Dolphins super coach Wayne Bennett and ink a five-year extension with Melbourne.
The decision left Bennett furious, with the 73-year-old slamming Munster’s actions for not privately informing the coach of his final decision as “ordinary”.
The Queensland Origin pivot said on Thursday the pair have yet to smoke the peace pipe over the fallout and Anasta lifted the lid on the contractual tug-of-war, admitting he was convinced Munster would be the Dolphins’ marquee player in 2023.
“He was so close, he was almost there (at the Dolphins),” Anasta told Nova’s Ash, Luttsy and Susie O’Neill show on Brisbane radio.
“If I’m being brutally honest ... at one point I was certain he was going to go to the Dolphins.
“I hadn’t told the Dolphins that but we were very close to it.
“Cam was excited about it, it was a huge opportunity for him, he loved the idea of a new franchise, he loves Queensland and State of Origin, it was of huge appeal to him.
“I have never spoken about this but he said, ‘I’m staying in Melbourne’ and I said, ‘OK’ and we went from there.
“He had one foot in the door at the Dolphins.”
Anasta revealed the turning point was last year’s NRL grand final between Penrith and Parramatta. As he watched Panthers players celebrating back-to-back titles, it stirred the competitive fire in Munster to win more silverware at Melbourne.
By comparison, Munster faced the challenge of keeping new franchise club the Dolphins away from the wooden spoon.
“At the end of the day what got him was watching the grand final,” he said.
“He watched Penrith celebrate and Nath Cleary and he rang me and said, ‘Braith, I’ll be honest, I want to win premierships and my best chance is at Melbourne and we can do it in the next few years’.
“Cam would have been a big fish at the Dolphins.
“He has had some dramas (going to rehab at the end of 2021), but he has got himself back on track and a lot of that had to do with Melbourne and that exposure in Queensland.
“He has a young family with his partner and it was going to be a big life change and decision.
“He is content with his life in Melbourne, it’s quieter down there, he can live his life and that had a lot to do with it as well.”
In the lead-up to Melbourne’s season opener against the Eels, Munster told Storm legend Billy Slater he has yet to heal with Bennett. The duo will face off when the Dolphins and Storm clash in round 12 on May 20.
“I haven’t really spoken to (Bennett) yet,” Munster said.
“It’s still an open wound, still fresh for not only him but the Dolphins in general.
“I’m sure they will beat it up in whatever round we have the Dolphins this year.
“It was a decision I made.
“I will stand by it. No regrets whatsoever.
“It would have been nice to be a foundation player, but it is something I have to live with, I will do that and (I knew) whatever team I play for I will do everything I can to make it a good one.”
BENNETT’S DOLPHINS SABOTAGE BRONCOS
- Robert Craddock
The Battle for Brisbane has exploded on all fronts in a war that has left a blow torch blazing in the Broncos direction just as they seemed settled for the new season.
The Dolphins and Broncos haven’t even played each other but already their rivalry has a sharper, more pointed and personal edge than anything that exists between the Broncos and the Titans or Cowboys.
The Broncos-Dolphins rivalry needs no artificial colours or flavours. It’s raw and real and getting bigger by the week.
Our tip is that it will drive the game’s popularity in Queensland to levels never previously seen and clashes between the clubs will eventually stop the city in a Port Adelaide-Crows sort of way in the AFL.
The Dolphins are conspicuously short on big name talent but picked the Broncos pocket last week by signing the outstanding Herbie Farnworth and now forward Tom Flegler, both for 2024 and beyond.
You cannot keep ‘em all as they say and Flegler is always a suspension risk and may, as a consequence, be slightly overpriced and simply too hard to retain by a Broncos budget “gassed’’ by retaining other stars.
But these are significant signings because they are fine players on the way up not out.
The Dolphins probably won’t beat the Broncos this season but they have sabotaged them.
The signings are a reminder that the days of Brisbane offering unders to players to stay are gone because just across the Hornibrook Bridge there’s a key rival offering $150,000 a year more and you don’t even have to leave home.
Say what you like about players promising to commit while they are still at the club but it’s such a deflating look for Brisbane for two stars to announce their exit plans just when they are about to link arms and go into a round one war against the premiers.
Flegler is precisely the sort of “middle-aged general’’ the Dolphins desperately need and, for all of his suspension woes, the sort of warrior the Broncos could not afford to lose.
Rivalry-wise with Queensland teams, the Broncos have played a lengthy series of epic games against the Cowboys but amid the tension there is great respect and affection.
Strong as it is, that rivalry is diluted by the fact the clubs are so far apart geographically that, although living in the same state, they exist in different worlds.
But it’s different with the Dolphins. These two are like sharks swimming in the same pond chasing the same pilchards.
The Broncos and Dolphins know, in time, they will be the instant barometer for each other. One team’s success will be the other’s boil on the backside.
Many years ago Brisbane boxing promoter Reg Layton used to promote local fights by passionately declaring “honestly, there’s real hatred between these two’’ even when the fighters had never actually met.
The Broncos and Dolphins haven’t got to the hatred stage but don’t worry – they’re getting there.
It’s real. And it’s everywhere, from recruitment of players to the Dolphins hiring of a dozen or so ex-Bronco staff including the once-sacked Broncos coach Wayne Bennett.
It stretches to junior nurseries which is why the Broncos made such a fuss of their recent week of coaching clinics, school appearances and sportsman’s functions on the Sunshine Coast because they knew it was smack bang in the heart of the Dolphins key recruiting region.
Niggle and jab. A glance here. A prod there.
Far from trying to deny it, both clubs have embraced the narrative because they know that while rivalries can create many unpleasant moments they also make money, attract fans and stir up passion.
It’s on folks ... enjoy the ride.
WHY BRONCOS NEED SUPER SMART SEAN TO TAKE RUDDER
Wayne Bennett and Sean O’Sullivan once passed like ships in the night at the Broncos, never expecting to be reunited sharing the rudder on a new vessel on the other side of town.
O’Sullivan was only coached by Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett for one day at the Broncos late in 2018 before Bennett was axed, surely making it the shortest coach-player union in NRL history.
But they are back together at the Dolphins where O’Sullivan will be first choice halfback on the back of an interesting career which features one game for the Sydney Roosters, eight for the Broncos, 12 for the Warriors and 11 last year for Penrith when he was Nathan Cleary’s stunt double.
And he’s only 24.
O’Sullivan may be no superstar but he’s got something and Andrew Johns, one of the game’s greatest players, reckons he knows what it is.
“His footy intellect would be in the top three in the competition,’’ Johns wrote in his column last week.
It’s an eye-catching compliment, perhaps the greatest O’Sullivan has ever received, and it sums up the quick-between-the-ears player O’Sullivan must be if he is to squeeze the best out of a team which has any number of solid craftsmen but few match-winners.
O’Sullivan’s contract meeting for the Dolphins deal had to be done over the phone when Bennett could not attend after being flooded in on his Darling Downs property but they quickly found common ground and Bennett got his man.
Instead of being the safety net back-up option for clubs, O’Sullivan will now be the man on the high wire heartened by the knowledge that Penrith has shown him how a successful side functions.
“I will be forever grateful for what the Penrith Panthers did for me,’’ O’Sullivan said.
“They were unbelievable for me. They taught me what 80 minutes of NRL football looks like. They taught me how to train properly to maximise the way you play on the weekend. They taught me so many lessons.’’
Foundations halfbacks at new clubs – think Allan Langer at the Broncos, Scott Prince at the Titans and Laurie Spina at the Cowboys – tend to be men of great influence but O’Sullivan is trying not to be burdened by historical expectations.
“It comes with a lot and I am just concentrating on earning everyone’s respect and training really hard. I am not so much worried about outside noises and expectations I am just worried about what’s in our club and what we are building at the Dolphins.
“I really want to make this my home now but to do that I know I have to train and play well.’’
‘Everyone has really bought in to what we are trying to do at the Dolphins. Led by Wayne, everyone is coming to training with a smile on their face.’’
O’Sullivan feels the signings of Melbourne Storm trio Jesse and Kenny Bromwich and Felise Kaufusi helped to set standards on and off the field.
“The way that they lead us at training you can tell they have been at a successful club and even Felise taking some of the boys out to dinner has been great.’’
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