Melbourne Storm star Cameron Munster back to his best against Manly

Consecutive thrashings weren’t good form for a premiership hopeful, so one Storm superstar stepped up to turn things around.

Cameron Munster carved up Manly. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy said Thursday’s win over Manly was a “step in the right direction” after back-to-back losses had many questioning their premiership credentials.

Bellamy praised superstar Cameron Munster, who scored a try in each half and set up another, to answer critics with the coach declaring his key playmaker had tried “too hard” when things weren’t going right.

But with halves partner Jahrome Hughes back, Munster was able to play exercise his dominance on the opposition.

“Cameron‘s the ultimate competitor and when things aren’t going for him, he probably tries too hard,” Bellamy said.

“I thought he was tremendous. It was obviously a good performance by him and having Jahrome back obviously helped.”

Having scored just 12 points in losses to Penrith then North Queensland, Storm crossed the line five times in the 28-8 but still looked patchy and Bellamy conceded the one-time premiership favourites had some work to do.

“We competed really well and didn‘t seem to panic and showed a lot of patience,” Bellamy said.

“I thought we were pretty dominant in the first half; we left a couple of tries out there.

Tui Kamikamica is making his presence felt for Melbourne Storm. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

“I really liked the way we started the second half – we had plenty of intent about our running and the desire with our defence.

‘It’s a nice way to start the weekend.“

Another standout for the coach was the performance of hulking forward Tui Kamikamica whose start to the season was delayed by an NRL breach notice, which alleged that he had brought the game into disrepute following an incident in Brisbane in November last year.

Despite the uncertain start date to his season, the 28-year-old quietly went about his business to be as ready as he could for his return to the field for the Storm.

After playing in a Queensland Cup game and appearing fumbly in last week‘s heavy loss to North Queensland Cowboys, it appeared as though Kamikamica was back to his best on Thursday night against the Sea Eagles.

Kamikamica set the tone for the Storm, running for 135 minutes, including 63 post-contact metres, to go with 26 tackles.

“The thing with Tui, during the off-season and then in the season, when he wasn‘t allowed to play … he wasn’t feeling sorry for himself,” Bellamy said.

“At some stage you‘d think he’d be ’why am I doing this?’ because he didn’t know when he’d be coming back or if he’d be coming back.

“He just kept his nose to the grindstone and we‘re seeing the results of that now.”

Originally published as Melbourne Storm star Cameron Munster back to his best against Manly