Melbourne need to be careful with the dance they’re doing with Cameron Munster or they could be saying farewell to a player who could lead them to a premiership.
Munster’s five-star performance to dismantle Cronulla on Saturday night was a timely reminder that he is a rare talent.
The Storm have done well to extend the contracts of Ryan Papenhuyzen, Harry Grant, Jahrome Hughes and Xavier Coates long term but Munster is more experienced and influential than them.
NSW would have a four-year win streak at Origin level if it wasn’t for Munster’s efforts in 2020 when he almost singlehandedly willed Queensland to a series victory, earning the Wally Lewis Medal for performances which were reminiscent of the King in his prime.
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In the post-Cameron Smith era, Munster is the player the Storm can build the rest of the team around. They still may do so but it appears they are lowballing their five-eighth despite the cashed-up Dolphins posing a more than considerable threat to sway him away back to his home state.
Munster is not off contract until the end of next year and CEO Justin Rodski has already said he’s adamant there will be no early release for the Maroons and Kangaroos five-eighth if he ended up asking for one.
The Storm have a policy of rejecting early releases unless they receive substantial compensation – in recent years they’ve given short shrift to any talk of Josh Addo-Carr, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and Brandon Smith joining their new teams early.
With Smith (Roosters) and fellow forward cornerstones Felise Kaufusi, Jesse and Kenny Bromwich (Dolphins) vacating the Victorian capital next year, the Storm will have some cash to spend in the next couple of seasons but plenty of holes in their pack they need to fill.
Somehow, legally of course, they need to find space in their salary cap to put a competitive offer in front of Munster.
The discrepancy between what the Storm seem likely to offer him and what the Dolphins or other rivals could fork out appears to be a deal breaker as things stand.
“If there’s a $500,000 difference, I’d be tempted to go,” Melbourne’s record-breaking former captain Cameron Smith said on Channel 9’s 100% Footy. “That’s probably the simplest way to answer that. What we’re hearing is that he’s going to be $750,000-$800,000 from the Melbourne Storm and we’re hearing $1.2 [million] tossed out about the Dolphins. That’s a fair bit of cash there to not take up.”
Rodski was also right to call out the lunacy of the current player transfer system which means the Dolphins can negotiate a deal with Munster for 2024 as long as they don’t table a deal for the final year of his current contract.
He also received plenty of support for highlighting the blatant conflict of interest presented by Munster’s new manager Braith Anasta being able to use his platform as a Fox League commentator to drive up his client’s value.
But nothing will come of it. The NRL, which is a tangled web of conflicting interests – the chairman of the game is the CEO of a rival sport after all, has been claiming it is in the process of sorting out the agents to keep them on the straight and narrow for the best part of forever.
Anasta has been relatively measured with what he’s said about Munster on air. Other agents are far more insidious with the anonymous way they manipulate clubs via the media, planting stories with preferred reporters by suggesting other teams are ready to splash dubious amounts of cash to sign their client.
The Storm may have thought they could knock off a few zeroes for Munster’s next deal after warning him that he was on his last chance at the end of last season for his involvement in “the white powder” Mad Monday incident alongside Brandon Smith and Chris Lewis.
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After the NRL fined him $30,000 and banned him a game, the Storm dished out a suspended $100,000 fine, put him on a year-long alcohol ban and removed him from the club’s leadership group and threatened to tear up his contract if he transgressed again.
Munster spent a month in a Queensland-based wellness centre to fix his problems with gambling and alcohol. He has admitted to blowing as much as $50,000 in one day gambling.
The whole ordeal was a shock to the system for Munster and after training like a demon in the off-season, he has kicked off the 2022 campaign in style, culminating in Saturday night’s domination of Cronulla which had commentators running out of superlatives.
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Storm coach Craig Bellamy said the collective slap in the face to Munster on the back of the team’s playoff exit in the preliminary final to eventual premiers Penrith was “the best thing that has ever happened to him”.
“His consistency this year has been at a real high level so I think he’ll just get better and better,” he said.
At 27 – with two premierships, four Tests and 13 Origins for the Maroons already on his resume – the next five years should be the best period of Munster’s career.
The Storm fell a game short in their first full season without Cameron Smith after the earlier departures of Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater. Bellamy is potentially finally retiring in the next year or two as well.
They need Munster to ensure that falling short in the finals doesn’t become an ongoing trend. He’s a big-game player, just ask Cronulla’s defenders who tried to stop him in their blockbuster clash at AAMI Park.
Munster has repeatedly said he loves the club and wants to stay so the Storm need to stump up some more cash or the player most likely to keep them in premiership contention could walk out the door.