Cameron Munster rocked by dad's death days before Origin series decider
The death of Munster's dad Steven was confirmed by Maroons coach Billy Slater on Sunday morning.
He said the Melbourne Storm playmaker has indicated he still intends to play in Wednesday night's series decider in Sydney.
'Unfortunately we woke to the sad news of the passing of Cameron Munster's father Steven Munster overnight,' Slater said, as first reported by Code Sports.
'Cam will exit camp to be with his family before rejoining his team for the game on Wednesday.
'On behalf of myself and our footy team and the state of Queensland, we send our thoughts, our love and condolences to Steven Munster's family and friends, in particular his wife Debbie, his daughter Danielle and of course his son Cameron. Thanks.'
Munster has previously spoken about his dad's long battle managing his diabetes condition.
According to Code, Queensland officials offered Munster an opportunity to stand down from the game, but the Maroons' No. 6 will be there for the series finale.
The 30-year-old captained his state for the first time in Origin Game 2 in Perth, where the Maroons pulled off a win for the ages.
It had already been an emotionally draining month for Munster, who replaced Daly Cherry-Evans as Queensland captain after the team were blown off the park in the series opener.
He returned to Melbourne to be with his family after Origin Game 2 before joining his teammates in Sydney ahead of their Round 16 match against the Rabbitohs.
Munster has arguably been Queensland's greatest player over the last 10 years and has earned comparisons with Maroons icon Wally Lewis.
His decision to play on Wednesday night would be another inspirational move from the new Queensland skipper.
Muster has always worn his heart on his sleeve on the football field and let his emotions pour out in a classy defence of Slater following the Maroons' Game 2 victory.
'With all the pressure and criticism that Billy Slater has been getting, we're just glad we played for him tonight,' Munster said.
'He deserves everything, he loves Queensland and he loves this group.
'There's been a lot of speculation in the media, we needed to turn up for our coach tonight and we f***ing did.'
The Queensland Rugby League (QRL) has not announced when Munster will return to camp.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
30 minutes ago
- ABC News
Alex de Minaur 'frustrated' after letting near-perfect start slip against Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon
Australian Alex de Minaur has failed to reach the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, after being knocked out of the tournament by 24-time grand slam winner Novak Djokovic. Despite a strong start by the Aussie, his Serbian opponent staged a comeback that keeps his hope of a 25th grand slam win alive. Djokovic will now advance to the quarter-finals after his 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over de Minaur. With Roger Federer watching from the Royal Box, the player whose record eight men's titles Djokovic is trying to equal, Djokovic's usually-surgical game misfired badly early on. "I can't remember when I've seen him play a worse set than this," John McEnroe, who won Wimbledon three times in the 1980s, said on the BBC telecast. "I mean, it's literally been years." The Aussie took an early lead, winning the first set, before Djokovic turned the tables and ended the match in the three subsequent sets. The hustling and bustling of de Minaur's game continued to cause Djokovic headaches, but the sixth seed found his range to win the next two sets full of baseline rallies. Even then, Djokovic looked like getting dragged into a fifth set as de Minaur jumped into a 4-1 lead in the fourth set. But the Serb slammed the door shut just in time, winning five games in a row to take his place in the last eight. "He lifted his level big-time," said de Minaur of that crucial juncture in the fourth set. "I had a chance to break him and get the double break. He started going after it a little bit more and raised his level, which completely changed the momentum. "I'm frustrated I let that set slip away. But he's been pretty good in big moments for a very long time. "In the bigger moments today I think my level dipped, and I didn't rise to the occasion as I needed to if I wanted to beat someone as good as him. "There's positives (from the match) but where I am in my career I want more. I want to be on the other side of this match coming out on top because that's the next step in my career. "If I'm going to make the next step, these are the types of matches that need to start going my way." Speaking on court after the game, Djokovic said he was in mixed spirits after the rough start. "I'm still trying to process the whole match and what happened on the court. It wasn't a great start for me, it was a great start for Alex," Djokovic said. "He was just managing the play better from the back of the court and I didn't have many solutions. I was very pleased to hang tough in the right moments and win this one." De Minaur said he was "disappointed" he could not challenge a resurgent Djokovic, even in a close fourth set. "I felt like I put myself in a great position," de Minaur said. It was the first time Djokovic and de Minaur had played against each other on a grass court. Djokovic has now won 43 of his last 45 matches at Wimbledon and not since 2017 has he failed to reach the final. Djokovic's bid for an eighth Wimbledon title and 25th Grand Slam singles trophy overall will continue against world number 22 Flavio Cobolli of Italy. AP/Reuters/AAP
News.com.au
39 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Trainer Ciaron Maher makes a Recommendation for barrier re-education for out-of-sorts star
Recommendation has undergone barrier re-education to help the out-of-sorts sprinter start sharper and regain form. Trained by Ciaron Maher, Recommendation burst onto the Melbourne winter circuit last year with a seven-length Group 3 Sir John Monash Stakes (1100m) demolition. He turned a blistering first-up performance into a Group 3 sprint hat-trick at Caulfield with subsequent wins in the Bletchingly Stakes and Heath Stakes. Hong Kong Sprint. The five-year-old gelding returns to Caulfield third-up on Saturday to defend the Sir John Monash title after two lacklustre performances in Listed and Open company. Recommendation has not been as sharp out of the barriers this time in compared to electric starts last year. He missed the start a length at Flemington a fortnight ago and finished last of eight, beaten five lengths. Maher stable representative Leigh Allen said Recommendation had benefited from the barrier refresh. "It's daylight to the others." Recommendation returns in fine style & destroys his opposition in the G3 Sir John Monash Stakes ðŸ'¥ @cmaherracing @blake_shinn — (@Racing) July 13, 2024 'We sent him to Julien Welsh's, had a bit of time there, and then had a piece of work (last Saturday),' Allen said. 'He'll have a little pop out on Tuesday and hopefully we're back on the right leg there. 'It's nothing bad (barrier manners), not that he's a rogue or anything, but he's missed the start and from there (he's on the back foot) as an on speed runner he needs to be thereabouts … as soon as he flops out of the barriers it's game over basically. 'We're hoping for an improved showing (in the Sir John Monash) … he'll then target races similar to last preparation.' "They're not going to get to him." Recommendation becomes the third horse to complete Monash-Bletchingly double ðŸ'¥ @cmaherracing @blake_shinn — (@Racing) July 27, 2024 Allen said Recommendation had taken a bit of time to get up to speed this year, following the Hong Kong trip last December. 'It probably did take a lot out of him going to Hong Kong because he had a really good prep this time of year … took him a while to get over that so we're trying to get him back in form,' Allen said. The Maher stable saddled a treble at Flemington last Saturday, including the emerging stayer Shockletz. Shockletz responds to @HTCoffey 's urgings & claims Ant in the final bound in the Mahogany Challenge Final âš¡ï¸� @cmaherracing — (@Racing) July 5, 2025 Allen said Shockletz, a rising four-year-old daughter of Melbourne Cup winner Shocking, had the potential to advance to the spring. Shockletz has won three of her past five starts and just missed in a photo finish two back. 'She's only a little slight thing … it's all happened in a very short amount of time so she might not be one you quickly put into a good race,' Allen said. 'I'd imagine she'll have a reset (freshen up for spring).'
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
‘Difficult to take': Tigers CEO slams ‘crap' reports, praises Benji for taking on ‘unenviable task'
Wests Tigers CEO Shane Richardson believes the team's upset win over the Roosters was a 'statement' by the players in response to 'crap' reports about their coach Benji Marshall. Richardson also admitted that the exit of Lachlan Galvin 'hurt' both him and Marshall, and he explained the reasons behind letting young gun Tallyn Da Silva leave early. The Tigers ended a six-game losing streak on Sunday without three of their most important players in Jarome Luai, Api Koroisau and Jahream Bula. The 30-28 win came after another week of headlines surrounding the Tigers, including a story that alleged Adam Doueihi got into a fiery exchange with Marshall at training. There were also claims that Richardson wanted to bring in former Dragons coach Paul McGregor as an assistant, but Marshall didn't allow it. Marshall hit back at the reports in his post-game press conference and on Monday night Richardson backed his coach up while appearing on NRL 360. 'I just think the players stood up and said to the world that this crap about Benji is crap. You don't play like that with all the players we had out yesterday without having a real commitment to the coach,' he said. 'The articles written earlier in the week, I understand journalism, clickbait and all the rest of it but agenda-driven journalism is not true. 'The lies that were written in that article were very difficult for Benji to take. 'The players particularly knew it wasn't true, Adam Doueihi knew it wasn't true. I've never even met Paul McGregor so how I was even going to get him as a coach I don't know. 'At the end of the day, it was a statement by the players and how they feel about Benji.' The Tigers have claimed three-straight wooden spoons — two of which have been under Marshall — but Richardson believes the 2005 premiership-winner is trading in the right direction. He also praised Marshall for showing the courage to take on the 'unenviable task' of turning the Tigers around. 'Everybody in the press was bagging the Tigers for the last three or four years (saying) 'how terrible they were' and 'they weren't getting any better',' Richardson said. 'He's taken on the job that not many people would've ever taken on. He's taken it on without coaching before and he took it on because in a lot of ways they gave him the blaze of it because he tried to give them some face in the marketplace. 'Then all of a sudden the Tim Sheens stuff happened and he inherited the side. He inherited a tough roster, which I believe there was only 22 of the 36 players could play NRL. So he had no depth work with, we ran last in reserve grade. 'He's taken on that challenge and worked forward. This year we've gone in with the changes we can make and he's got better and better. 'He will be the first to say he was stunned when he went in there but he learns every day. You can't learn if you don't want to learn, you can't learn if you're not intelligent. 'He's intelligent and he's there for one reason and one reason only. I can assure it's not about the money, it's about the want to make Wests Tigers successful again. 'He's taken on an unenviable task and I think he's done a great job.' The Tigers' roster management has been criticised of late following the exits of Galvin and most recently Tallyn Da Silva. Galvin was a week-in, week-out starter but wanted out of the Tigers and made the move to the Bulldogs around a month ago. Da Silva hasn't been able to nail down his role in the 17 and agitated once the club indicated they were going to re-sign co-captain and star hooker Api Koroisau. That's why Richardson said their situations were 'very different.' 'Lachie just didn't want to be there,' he explained. 'He told us up front that he didn't want to be there and didn't want to be involved with Benji as a coach and he wanted to move on. 'He had to make a decision and then we had to make a decision after that. 'It hurt Benji and it hurt me too because I never want to lose a junior and I watched the tapes before I went there and I could see what a player he was and that we could build the club around him. 'And we did, we named him straight away at five-eighth in the first grade side — no one had ever heard of him. 'He's got a way of looking at things... I hope he's successful and I think he will be successful, he's a good player. We had to make a call on what was best for the club and the squad... we had to move on. 'The other one was different. It was a young kid who had made it clear to us that he wanted to be there. I went and saw his parents two weeks before this happened and they said 'if Api signs we want him to be able to move on'.' Richardson then explained that when he approached the Knights about getting Kai Pearce-Paul to the club early they suggested a player swap involving Tallyn Da Silva for the rest of this year. However the Knights then decided they wanted to sign Da Silva longer-term, so the Tigers decided to let him go to market immediately. The Eels ended up winning the race for Da Silva though and the 20-year-old made a mid-season move. Koroisau is yet to put pen to paper on the new deal that will lock him in beyond 2026, however Richardson revealed the club 'accelerated the process' a fortnight ago and it's close to being signed. 'We've chosen his loyalty and leadership,' he said when explaining why the Tigers are investing in the 32-year-old. 'We don't have a lot of senior leadership and we felt that going forward that Api has done the right thing for the club. And more importantly he's still an outstanding player.'
