Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga has acquired an enormous increase forward of subsequent month’s Pacific Championships with Storm famous person Cameron Munster declaring himself out there regardless of carrying a knee damage that has hampered him for 2 months.
Munster has been taking part in with a badly contaminated left knee because the State of Origin collection wrapped up, with the 29-year-old unable to take day off to let it heal as a result of Melbourne was locked in a battle to clinch a top-four spot.
The artful five-eighth was rested for the ultimate spherical of the common season together with 10 of his teammates, however it wasn’t sufficient time for the an infection to go away, with Munster nonetheless closely bandaged all through the finals.
The veteran playmaker by no means used it as an excuse through the finals and despatched a transparent message to Meninga that he needs to be picked within the Australian squad for the primary match towards Samoa on October 14.
The Kangaroos will probably be with out Latrell Mitchell (finger) and Jack Wighton (retired) for that sport, whereas Valentine Holmes’ Instagram controversy will doubtless price him a spot within the backline.
Munster has represented his nation 9 occasions and says it will be silly to surrender his spot given younger weapons like Tom Dearden may are available in and by no means relinquish the No.6 jersey.
“I’d play with one leg to play for the Kangaroos,” Munster mentioned.
“You can’t take those jerseys lightly. If I get picked then I get picked, but if I don’t then I’ll hold my head up high for what I did in the season and get back to working hard.
“If I do get the opportunity to wear an Australian jersey then I’m not going to throw it away because I could retire from representative footy in the next two or three years and be content.
“At this stage, I won’t be giving away an Australian jersey because we’ve got some young, quality players coming through, so if I give it away then I might not get it back.”
The damage itself has been a irritating one for Munster, who has arrange tries in simply 4 of his previous 10 matches, whereas his working sport hasn’t been as dynamic.
“It (the wound) just keeps opening up and opening up. I’m on antibiotics but it keeps getting infected,” he revealed.
“Anyone that knows me probably knows I have a little bit of bad blood from my genetics, but at the moment it keeps getting infected and at times it’s really sore around the glands.
“I’ve got to make sure I get it right because it’s only an injury and it’s not an excuse because I need to be better.”
Munster concedes he “struggled to get into the game” towards Penrith on Friday night time and took it upon himself to swing momentum Melbourne’s approach when it was too late.
The 38-4 loss ended an inconsistent season for the Storm who made the highest 4 however lacked the same old polish and sophistication we’ve seen from them through the years.
Losing skilled heads like Felise Kaufusi, Brandon Smith and Jesse and Kenny Bromwich didn’t assist, with Munster one in every of simply 5 Storm gamers from the 2020 grand remaining group to again up on Friday.
“I don’t think we missed them, I just think we didn’t have enough belief,” he mentioned.
“I believe in this team and I know some blokes believe in this team, but I just think at the moment that our young boys are a little bit nervous and that kind of stuff in the big moments, but they’ll take their lessons out of this.
“Hopefully, next year we can ice those moments in the big games.
“We still made the top four and a prelim so there are plenty of positive signs for us. No one really gave us a chance to make the eight so we’re still proving critics wrong.
“We’re a very competitive side, and the Melbourne Storm have been really good for a very long time, but I’m sick of making prelims. I want to be making grand finals.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
