Cameron Munster’s mother Debbie fronted her son at the start of the week and ordered him to kiss and make up with Panthers back-rower Liam Martin after the Storm five-eighth admitted he did not like him.
Munster told reporters in Melbourne on Monday, “We didn’t really like each other in Aussie camps”, to which Martin fired back on Tuesday: “I thought we were fine, but obviously we’re not – I don’t really care.”
But Munster and Martin quickly embraced when they crossed paths at Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal on Thursday and even pretended to lock horns when posing for a photo for this masthead.
Munster later revealed there was nothing but love for Martin, and his mother was particularly upset when she read the news.
“Mum is mum, she hates confrontation, she’s at home looking after my beautiful kids with my wife [Bianca], and she said, ‘you need to make sure you go out there and make amends with Liam’,” Munster said.
“She loves her footy. She’s a big fan of Liam. We’ll see how we go.
Grand final protagonists Cameron Munster and Liam Martin in Sydney on Thursday.Credit: Steven Siewert
“It’s all fun and games. I’d love to see the whole transcript from the other day. I guess someone has to be the villain in this big game, and I’ll happily be the villain.
“Of course, there’s respect there. He’s one of the best back-rowers in the game – he’s a lovable larrikin.
“You want to go to battle against the best, and he’s one of them. He’ll want to take my head off, but there’s mutual respect there.”
Munster and Martin, who will line up on the same side of the field in the 2024 decider, have clashed in the past. The most famous incident was Origin I in 2021 when Munster was fined for kicking Martin as he lay on the Townsville turf.
Munster and Martin were Australian teammates at the 2022 World Cup, and again for the Kangaroos at last year’s Pacific Championships.
The Panthers filmed this masthead’s photo shoot of Munster and Martin, and had 150,000 views in the first hour of posting the footage to their Instagram account.
Munster said the Storm had been given a lovely reception since basing themselves in Sydney, and was glad to see a healthy splash of Storm “purple” at the official press conference.
The Storm held their main training session on Thursday at Leichhardt Oval – the inner-western Sydney ground familiar with Melbourne’s former Wests Tigers Shawn Blore and Harry Grant – and will complete their preparations at Accor Stadium on Saturday.
Collins addresses concussion concern
Lindsay Collins has allayed fears he will be forced into an early retirement because of repeated concussions.
Collins was knocked out and played the ball facing the wrong way after being belted by Nelson Asofa-Solomona last Friday night.
Asofa-Solomona failed in his bid to have the tackle downgraded at the judiciary, and will miss the grand final and a further four games as a result.
It emerged in the Monday night hearing that Collins has now undergone 11 head injury assessments in 113 NRL games, and failed five of them. He was also knocked out in a 2022 Origin game.
Collins plays in the front row and is contracted to the Roosters until the end of 2028.
But the Queensland and Australian representative said there was no cause for concern.
“Not at all,” Collins told this masthead at Wednesday’s Dally M Medal.
“I know what I’m doing, I know the game I play, and I know what’s involved. There are those risks, but I love this game, I love coming into training every week, and I get to live out my dream.”
As for the Asofa-Solomona hit, Collins said: “Two guys were going at it. Accidents happen. That’s footy. We were competing, he got it wrong, but it was an accident.”
Collins, who will become the leader of the Roosters’ pack next year following the departure of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, is keen to feature for Australia in the coming weeks if picked by coach Mal Meninga.
South Sydney winger’s tears
Warning: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people are advised this article contains the name of a deceased Aboriginal person
Tyrone Munro has opened up about the heartbreak of playing the final couple of rounds for South Sydney following the death of his mother and uncle.
Two days after Munro’s mother, Kirawhan Fernando, lost her life, the Souths rookie bagged a double against Penrith. Teammate Cody Walker later revealed after that game Munro had lost his uncle two days later.
“It was pretty tough time, and it is still tough, and I can control now is looking after my brothers and doing what I need to do for them, which is being the best man and role model I can be,” Munro said.
“Mum meant everything to me. She was my rock, my role model. Her funeral was last week. Those tries I scored were for her and my uncle [Dunka].”
Munro had already met in-coming coach Wayne Bennett and was looking forward to representing the Sydney All Blacks at this weekend’s Koori Knockout.
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