Cameron Munster


Cameron Munster is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for the Melbourne Storm in the NRL and Australia at international level.
Munster has played for Queensland in the State of Origin series and won the 2017 NRL Grand Final with Melbourne.

Early life

Munster was born in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. He was educated at Emmaus College, Rockhampton.
He played his junior rugby league for the North Knights at, before being signed by the Central Queensland Capras in the Queensland Cup. In June 2013, he signed a two-year contract with the Melbourne Storm.
Before signing with Melbourne, Central Queensland head coach and former Canterbury player Jason Hetherington had phoned the Canterbury-Bankstown recruitment team recommending that they sign Munster but he was told the club had no interest in signing the player. Hetherington spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald saying "I made a few phone calls and just tried to find an opportunity for him. Obviously my alliance and heart lies with the Bulldogs and I went that direction first, I would have liked for them to have shown a bit more interest to be honest with you, but it's a competitive world out there".
On 21 September 2013, he won the Queensland Cup Rookie of the Year award.

Playing career

2014

Munster played for the Storm's NYC team in the earlier rounds of 2014 before moving on to the Storm's Queensland Cup team, Eastern Suburbs Tigers. On 18 March, he extended his contract with the Storm until the end of 2017. On 3 May, he played for the Queensland Under-20s team against the New South Wales Under-20s team, playing off the interchange bench in the 30-8 loss at Penrith Stadium. In Round 12 of the 2014 NRL season, he made his NRL debut for the Storm against the North Queensland Cowboys.

2015

In round 6 against the Canberra Raiders, Munster returned for the Storm, filling in for the injured Billy Slater at fullback and also scoring his first NRL career try in the 14-10 win at Canberra Stadium. From Round 12 onwards after incumbent fullback Billy Slater was ruled out for the rest of the year due to a shoulder injury, Munster stepped up and filled in the vacant position at ease. In Round 22 against the Gold Coast Titans, he scored a hat trick in the Storm's 36-14 win at AAMI Park. Munster finished his promising 2015 NRL season with him playing in 19 matches and scoring 7 tries for the Storm.

2016

On 12 January, Munster was selected in the QAS Emerging Origin squad. On 31 January, while in the Emerging Maroons camp, he broke curfew and the QRL announced he would be excluded from its representative programs for the next 12 months. On 1 February, he was named in the Storm's 2016 Auckland Nines squad. Munster started the 2016 season playing at centre in round 1 against the St George Illawarra Dragons in the 18-16 win at AAMI Park. Following Billy Slater's season-ending shoulder injury, Munster took over the fullback role for the rest of the season. On 11 May 2016, Munster extended his contract with the Melbourne Storm to the end of the 2019 season, earning around $2 million within those years. On 2 October 2016, in the Storm's 2016 NRL Grand Final against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Munster played at fullback in the 14-12 defeat. Munster finished the 2016 NRL season with him playing in 24 matches and scoring 4 tries for the Storm.

2017

With Billy Slater set to return Fullback and to action from a shoulder injury which ended his 2016 season, Munster was expected to spend time playing Five-Eighth following Blake Green's departure to Manly, in the 2017 season. However, with coach Craig Bellamy opted to rest Billy Slater for the opening 2 rounds of the season, Munster filled-in again at Fullback with Ryley Jacks playing Five-Eighth. When fullback Billy Slater made his return from injury in the Storm's Round 3 home game against the Brisbane Broncos, Munster then took over the Five-Eighth role. Following that Round 3 game, he was then ruled out of action with a fractured cheekbone until Round 7. Munster then took back the Five-Eighth role, producing a number of great performances. Munster was part of the Queensland Maroons Origin Squad for game 2 of the 2017 State of Origin Series as being 18th Man. Following a season-ending shoulder injury to Johnathan Thurston, Munster was selected to make his State of Origin debut, being selected at five-eighth with Michael Morgan shifting to the centres in the series deciding Game 3 match. On-debut, he produced an outstanding performance combining with his Storm team-mates in QLD's one-club spine combination of Cameron Smith at Hooker, Cooper Cronk at Halfback and Billy Slater at Fullback; to help QLD to a series win in the 22-6 victory over NSW at Suncorp Stadium. On 1 October 2017, in the Storm's 2017 NRL Grand Final against the North Queensland Cowboys, Munster played at five-eighth in the 34-6 victory. Munster finished off a great 2017 NRL season with him playing in 21 matches, scoring 1 try and kicking 12 goals for the Storm. On 3 October 2017, Munster was rewarded with selection in the 24-man Kangaroos squad for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. On 3 November 2017, Munster made his test debut for Australia against France, where he started at halfback in place for James Maloney who pulled out of the match the night beforehand due to personal reasons and scored 2 tries in the 52-6 win at Canberra Stadium.

2018

Munster played in both the 2018 World Club Challenge and 2018 NRL Grand Final. He was sin-binned twice in one game during Melbourne's Grand Final loss to the Sydney Roosters.
In November 2018, Munster re-signed with Melbourne until the end of 2023.

2019

In the 2019 NRL season, Munster played 24 games as the club finished as runaway minor premiers. Munster played in the club's preliminary final defeat against the Sydney Roosters at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
On 7 October 2019, Munster was named in the Australian side for the upcoming Oceania Cup fixtures.

Honours

Individual
Club

NRL

†Denotes seasons in which Munster won an NRL Premiership

* = Unfinished season

State of Origin

Australia