‘I’d be playing reserve grade’: Munster’s reality check after being outrun by props

Cameron Munster stared down his rugby league mortality when he was beaten for pace by a retiring forward who was a few months away from being a reserve grade coach.

But with a new diet and hips as good as, the Storm star hopes to extend his career well into his mid-30s and toward the fabled 300-game mark.

Despite Melbourne surging to last year’s grand final, Munster endured the most frustrating season of his career.

From the moment he slipped in a hotel shower in Fiji last February, the Queensland and Australian five-eighth was hampered by a groin injury that limited him to 17 games (the least he’s managed in 10 full NRL campaigns) and needed two off-season hip operations.

A successful recovery has him returning in Melbourne’s trial against the Cowboys on Sunday and ruefully looking back on 2024, when veteran teammate turned Raiders NSW Cup coach Chris Lewis left him for dead.

“I know for a fact that I’m not the fastest guy in rugby league. But there were times in training and then in games where I had no power when I went to take off,” Munster said.

Back to his old self: Storm star Cameron Munster.Credit: Getty Images

“There were times when I just wasn’t myself and a couple of balls went to ground. I’d be there for it but a couple of middles [forwards] would pick the ball up instead, I literally couldn’t take off and chase these big boys.

“No disrespect to him, but Chris Lewis was one of the middle forwards. He’s nimble enough on his feet for a forward, but it was five metres when I couldn’t beat him or even catch him.

“I’d be a metre away and I couldn’t keep up. My strength as a player is my agility and footwork. If I lost that I’d probably be lost, I’d be playing a lot of reserve grade and thinking about retiring.

“That’s something I realised, so I was pretty committed to getting it back for my pre-season and I want to play some decent footy this year.”

Munster has overhauled his eating after enlisting clean-eating guru Anthony Minichiello and has lost four kilos since asking the Roosters great for advice.

He has another three years to run on one of the NRL’s richest contracts - Munster will earn around $1.2 million in 2025 - and agonised over his last negotiations as he weighed up a lucrative Dolphins offer against Melbourne’s extension.

Munster had front-row seats to Cameron Smith’s age-defying 430-game career, and joked that “if I start losing my hair like that then I’ll have to retire, I can’t play that long if that’s how you end up.”

Smith’s records are no doubt beyond the Storm pivot, butMunster is optimistic that his new-found zeal for looking after himself can extend his own career.

“I’ll be 33 at the end of these three years with the club, and look if my body’s right and we’re happy with the way I’m playing, then yeah, let’s keep going,” he said.

“But at the same time I’m not stupid. It’s a business, this game. As long as I keep my body right and keep performing, I’d like to think I can keep going until I’m 34, 35.

“But that’s up to me, not anyone else. We always talk about footy being a business, and the Storm do have to think like it’s a business.

“I can take that decision out of their hands if I’m playing good footy, look after myself fitness-wise and stay on the straight and narrow.”

Sharks flyer ruled out for five months

Dan Walsh

Cronulla’s Sione Katoa will be sidelined for the next four-to-five months after undergoing a shoulder reconstruction on the eve of his teammates departure for Las Vegas.

Katoa was the notable absentee from the Sharks travelling party on Thursday after suffering a shoulder injury while scoring a try in a trial match against the Warriors two weeks ago.

After scoring 17 tries last year, the Tongan international has gone under the knife and will be out until at least mid-June or July. The club is confident Katoa will be able to take the field again this season.

Outside backs Sam Stonestreet and Mawene Hiroti have travelled with Cronulla to the States ahead of their season-opener against Penrith on March 2 and shape as Katoa’s most likely replacement on the wing.

Katoa praises Storm’s premiership hunger

Roy Ward

Melbourne Storm back-rower Eli Katoa can see the hunger to win the premiership from his side as they take the field in season 2025.

The first-grade side will play their first proper trial match against North Queensland Cowboys at Casey Fields on Sunday after they sent a largely second-string side to Hamilton for the trial loss to the New Zealand Warriors last round.

Melbourne’s Eli Katoa is tackled by the Panthers defence last season.Credit: Getty

Cam Munster is back after hip surgery while only Ryan Papenhuyzen, Xavier Coates and Jahrome Hughes appear to be missing from their best starting side with the Storm still hopeful they can prove their fitness to face Parramatta at AAMI Park for their season-opener on March 9.

“I think everyone has come back to pre-season with a real hunger and willingness to get better,” Katoa said.

“We want to one better than we did last year and I’m excited for what this group can do.”

Katoa impressed with his work with his teammates last year and that saw him promoted to the club’s leadership group.

“I’m very grateful to be a part of this group, if you look at the history of the club, they’ve been so successful because they have quality leaders,” Katoa said.

“Billy Slater, Cam Smith and them, but I can also say that it starts at the top with our coaches, they set the perfect example of being a good leader.

“I’m still young. I’ll help out wherever I can but main thing I still get to learn from our leaders.”

Katoa also flagged that his teammates were excited about the release of Stan’s documentary on Storm coach Craig Bellamy filmed during last season which comes out on March 9. Stan is owned by Nine, the owner of this masthead.

“I don’t think they are ready, but they are excited to see what it’s like,” Katoa said on Wednesday with a laugh.

“Watching him on game day especially, us boys, we are excited to see it. It’s going to be a fun one to watch.”

Asked whether Bellamy has mellowed, Katoa shook his head.

“He’s still the same, he will still spray us and yell at us. He will never change,” Katoa said.

Penrith want to make latest representative star a ‘Panther for life’

Christian Nicolussi

Penrith have started discussions about making their latest representative star a Panther for life.

Lindsay Smith finished last season with a second premiership ring and a maiden Test call-up for Australia, and is set to play an even more important role for the four-time premiership-winners in 2025 by filling the front-row void left by James Fisher-Harris.

Smith is contracted until the end of 2026, but Penrith have every intention of nailing down an extension before he becomes a free agent.

His Kangaroos debut, and potential to crack the NSW Origin squad – Smith was invited to Laurie Daley’s Blues get-together last month – will only add to his value.

Sources with knowledge of the situation not authorised to speak publicly told this masthead the Panthers are keen to secure the 25-year-old to a long-term deal.

“We’ve had a conversation with Lindsay’s management. Lindsay reflects everything we’re trying to do at this club – our aim is to make him a Panther for life, and continue our built-from-within policy,” the club source said.

Front-rower Lindsay Smith will take James Fisher-HarrisCredit: Getty

The Panthers have farewelled representative front-rowers Spencer Leniu and now Fisher-Harris the past two seasons, and are mindful Moses Leota, the new leader of the pack, will be 32 by the time his own contract expires at the end of 2027.

Smith, Liam Henry – who is also off contract at the end of 2026 – and 20-year-old Luron Patea are the three props the Panthers want to build their pack around.

Blond-haired Smith, who grew up in St Clair and started playing junior football with local powerhouse club St Marys when he was five, said he would jump at the chance to remain a one-club player.

“What the club has done for the community and myself since I was a junior, I definitely want to stay here, and that’s the plan,” Smith said.

Smith said it would be up to coach Ivan Cleary to make a call on who wins Fisher-Harris’ starting spot, but welcomed the challenge to try and be a straight swap for the man who taught him about “mentality and leadership” the past six years.

Smith debuted for Australia off the bench during the Pacific Championships final against Tonga, and is among five other props – Payne Haas, Stefano Utoikamanu, Jake Trbojevic, Leniu and Mitch Barnett – in Daley’s early Origin plans.

Daley said of his first encounter with 107kg Smith: “I didn’t know much about him, but he strikes me as a kid who works really hard on his game, a player who gets through his work, is selfless, and someone his teammates enjoy playing with.”

The Panthers fly to Las Vegas on Thursday for their season-opener on Sunday week against Cronulla. The heavyweight showdown between Smith and Sharks’ new recruit Addin Fonua-Blake will be a highlight.

Left-field problem new signing Lewis Dodd has created for Rabbitohs

It has taken just one NRL trial match for new South Sydney halfback Lewis Dodd to present coach Wayne Bennett with a potential left-field dilemma.

The English import, who has joined Souths from Super League heavyweights St Helens on a three-year deal, played his first pre-season game for his new club in Saturday’s 34-24 loss to Manly in Gosford.

First impressions of the 23-year-old were that he boasts a handy left-foot kicking game, which should be no surprise given that he nailed a field goal in golden point two years ago to clinch a World Club Challenge triumph for Saints against Penrith.

In normal circumstances, left-footers are worth their weight in gold: they are a point of difference as they provide an alternative angle to a team’s kicking game.

Rabbitohs recruit Lewis Dodd.Credit: Steven Siewert

It is perhaps no coincidence that the most dominant teams in the competition during the past five years – Penrith and Melbourne – have had left-footed five-eighths, in Jarome Luai and Cameron Munster. They have been the perfect foil playing alongside right-footed halfbacks in Nathan Cleary and Jahrome Hughes.

The apparent issue for Dodd is that Souths already have in their ranks veteran five-eighth Cody Walker, who is a left-sided specialist with a left boot that is proven at the highest level.

Walker did not play against Manly last weekend, and perhaps as a pre-emptive measure, Dodd initially lined up on South Sydney’s right edge. He then returned in the second half, playing on the left edge, which is where he was deployed for the majority of his time at St Helens.

How this pans out over the course of the season remains to be seen, but at least Souths have the most experienced coach in history to find a solution.

Dodd, for his part, is just looking forward to playing in a full-strength team and firing his passes out to the likes of Walker and Latrell Mitchell.

Lewis Dodd is looking forward to playing alongside Cody Walker Latrell Mitchell.Credit: Getty

“I’m very lucky that we’ve got some of the biggest superstars in the NRL here,” he said. “Hopefully we get a few of them back week by week and just keep building, but we can’t just think about them.

“We need to build our game and we need to be a team, and if we can stay with the game plan the coaches give us for 80 minutes, and put fatigue into them [the opposition], and just be willing to kick long and chase and back our D [defence], I know it’s a bit of a cliche, but that’s what we’ve got to do.

“When we do that, hopefully the Latrells and Codys of the world ice the chances for us.”

Dodd was satisfied with his first-up showing and confident he would continue to improve, as he settles into his new surrounds and gains experience.

“Obviously it wasn’t the result we wanted, but on a personal level, and probably from a team as well, it was good to get out there and brush the cobwebs off a bit leading into next week and round one,” he said.

“It’ll take time, not only for me but for all of us, to get to a level that we’re confident in, that can go far and lead us into a finals run.

“It’s exciting, young lads, myself included, in a first-grade, NRL environment. It’s only onwards and upwards from here.

“We’ll take our lessons and where we can improve, and we’ll just keep doing that day by day, week by week.”

Asked for his thoughts about the pace of Saturday’s trial match, Dodd replied: “It was fast. It was different. Obviously you can get levels like that in Super League.

“But probably from people I’ve spoken to over here, it’s the consistency and all that, and that’s what I’ve got to work towards.

“There’s stuff here I’ve got to work on, but I enjoyed it. Now it’s about getting in on Monday and building.”

Dodd is expected to receive his second taste of NRL action in Saturday’s trial against St George Illawarra in Mudgee.

Souths set to face scrutiny over 100-minute game delay

South Sydney are expected to be scrutinised by the NRL after a suspected paramedic booking bungle caused a 100-minute delay to their trial match against Manly, almost forcing the game to be abandoned.

Manly eventually ran out 34-24 winners in Gosford, with Lehi Hopoate impressing in attack and young winger Navren Willett scoring a double.

New Rabbitohs halfback Lewis Dodd helped set up a try but otherwise had limited opportunities to impress, as the Wayne Bennett era kicked off with few regular first-graders.

Sea Eagles forward Taniela Paseka suffered a suspected low-grade shoulder injury in the win, while Souths utility Siliva Havili ended the match with a concussion.

The match was slated to start at 3.30pm AEDT but, with no paramedic on site at Central Coast Stadium, it became doubtful whether it would get underway at all.

It’s understood a booking oversight likely led to the issue.

The NRL, who were making inquiries around the circumstances on Saturday evening, did not comment.

South Sydney CEO Blake Solly confirmed the club were looking into the matter.

“We’re reviewing the circumstances of the delay to the start of the game, and we will comment when the review is complete,” Solly said.

A medical emergency was initially thought to be the catalyst for the delay, after a spectator suffered a suspected heart attack in the lead up to the match.

Navren Willett heads for the try line.Credit: Getty Images

An ambulance had to be called, with paramedics arriving and taking the woman to Gosford Hospital.

But, after those treating paramedics left, there were no on-duty medicos at the ground.

Solly told this masthead on Sunday that the fan had spent the night in hospital but was alert, responsive and hopeful of making a quick recovery.

Home clubs are responsible for booking paramedics for matches, with NRL guidelines requiring an intensive care unit paramedic and one other.

The NRL attempted to make calls to NSW Ambulance requesting personnel for the game, but they were unable to guarantee one at late notice.

After a 30-minute delay, a plea was eventually broadcast over the stadium’s loudspeaker - asking for any intensive care paramedics in the crowd to come forward.

An intensive care paramedic and intensive care unit doctor presented themselves, with the NRL then weighing up whether the duo could cover the match.

Eventually the game was given the go ahead, following a series of calls involving NRL hierarchy, senior medical staff and head of football Graham Annesley.

If a booking oversight is found to have caused the delay, the NRL has the ability to issue the home club a breach notice and hand down a fine.

The episode comes after a similar issue occurred in the NRLW last year at a Parramatta home game.

When Saturday’s game did start, Manly were the better undermanned team.

Hopoate was influential in the lead up to both their opening tries to winger Willett, putting him over for the first and making a break on the play before his second.

Fellow winger Raymond Tuaimalo Vaega also forced his way over for two tries, with the first the result of a nice ball from halfback Jake Arthur.

Clayton Faulalo scored another, while hooker Jake Simpkin pressed his claims for the No.9 jersey in round one against North Queensland when he crossed from a 20-metre dummy-half run.

Dodd played the first half and would have had an assist had his outside men not spilled a kick.

But the Englishman did have some influence when he returned late, putting Declan Casey into space for a Bayleigh Bentley-Hape try as the Rabbitohs put on a flurry of points at the death.

with AAP