‘Couldn’t be the dad I wanted’: Cam Murray explains the real reason 2025 was his toughest season

Beyond the field and behind closed doors, Cameron Murray faced his toughest opponent yet - watching his daughter’s first steps from the sidelines during his recovery from a devastating Achilles injury.

There was supposed to be a bright side to Cameron Murray’s near season-ending injury. Instead, it made things harder than they’ve ever been.

“Everyone was always like, ‘You’re going to have so much time with your family now and with your daughter, you’re going to create so many memories’,” he told this masthead.

“That’s what I got pretty emotional about, was the fact that I couldn’t be the dad that I wanted to be.

The South Sydney captain recently revealed there’ll be a new Rabbitoh at home in 2026, with he and partner Miranda Cross set to welcome their second child after baby Avalon.

But it was the fatherly moments Murray missed with his first daughter this year that resulted in him slumping to his lowest lows in 2025.

“The hardest thing for me wasn’t even not playing,” he said.

“The hardest thing was not being able to walk down the street with my daughter.”

In February, just two weeks before the South Sydney lock was set to lead his side out for their season opener, Murray suffered a ruptured Achilles.

After completing a kick chase at training, Murray retreated into the defensive line and accelerated off his standing leg into the next play, when he heard a loud pop.

His struggles worsened after surgery when an infection kept him bedridden for weeks in the hospital and stuck in a cast at home for months.

Murray’s pain went beyond the training paddock, instead shifting at the heartbreak of watching his one-year-old daughter Avalon’s first steps without his aid.

NRL Rabbitohs player Cameron Murray runs out with his daughter Avalon Murray. Picture: Instagram.

Murray recalls the pain of being sidelined after his Achilles injury left him not only unable to play rugby league, but also from living out many firsts with his daughter. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

“To me I just felt like I was there but I wasn’t, because I couldn’t really play with her or do anything with her. I was sitting there depressed on the couch not being able to move,” he said.

“She was running around and going crazy at home because she had just started walking and running, and my partner was doing everything looking after two babies, me included.

“It was just hard not to contribute to that.”

While teammates and fans eagerly awaited Murray’s return to the field, his reasons to get back to full fitness were much more personal.

“I had a process and a system to get back to footy and so that was fine, I had it all planned out, I knew what I had to do every day,” he said.

“But the best thing when I got on my two feet, it wasn’t that I was close to playing footy. It was that I could go and be the dad I wanted to be.

Cam Murray's injury struggles hit hardest at home.

“I’ll never get that year back with her and being able to spend that time with her was really special for me, because I know not a lot of dads or parents at all can spend the time that I was able to.”

Things are steadily falling into place at the back end of the year for Murray, and the club, after successfully returning for the final game of the season.

Not only will the club welcome their healthy skipper, but there is an optimism that coach Wayne Bennett can rejuvenate the career of new signing David Fifita from the Gold Coast.

“He’s a proven player and the amount of damage that he’s done in the game, he’s got a lot of talent and when he’s at his best he’s hard to stop,” Murray said.

“We all know that he was at his best when he was under Wayne. We’ll see him come over and wrap shoulders with the culture that we’ve got here and the team that we got.

“We are really keen to see not only him get back to his best, but all of us get back to our best.”

Throw in star fullback Latrell Mitchell and veteran playmaker Cody Walker, the Rabbitohs will have the look of a finals contender when their pre-season kicks off on November 14. And with another baby on the way, the Murray household is set to get a whole lot more frantic. In a good way.

“It’s going to be chaos. I don’t know how I got through the first one, but we’ll see how we go with the second,” he said.

“There hasn’t been a lot going for me on the field probably the last 12 months, but definitely winning on the family front.”

Originally published as ‘Couldn’t be the dad I wanted’: Cam Murray explains the real reason 2025 was his toughest season