Cameron Munster has admitted he may only have “two or three more years” left in his NRL career, despite still being one of the game’s elite players.

The 31-year-old was bestowed the Queensland captaincy in last year’s State of Origin series and also led the Storm into a second-straight grand final appearance.

Munster remains contracted in Melbourne until the end of 2027 and despite continued links with the Perth Bears, the five-eighth appears to be staying put.

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Cameron Munster. Getty

What happens after Munster’s current deal expires is a little less clear, and speaking on Nine’s Today he admitted there’s a chance he won’t even continue playing after that.

“I’m 32 this year,” he said.

“Hopefully two or three more years (left in my body). I don’t wanna be playing until 36 and getting wheeled out. You may as well leave when you can and retire on your own terms.

“A lot of athletes have had the chance of not being able to do that because of injuries. I want to be able to retire on my own terms – two or three years is probably realistic.”

Munster has already started putting things in place for his post-playing career, with confirmation last week he would be co-owner of a new Caxton Street pub.

In the short term, Munster will be hoping to steer the Storm into another NRL decider and make it third time lucky on the big stage.

The club has lost some key players for the 2026 campaign but Munster remains confident the Storm have what it takes to go all the way.

“Obviously last year was pretty disappointing, but I’m sure a lot of the NRL teams would have loved to have been in back-to-back grand finals,” he said of losing the grand final to the Broncos.

“It’s a bit of a sour taste in the mouth losing both of them, but being in the grand final is something special and hopefully we can do something special again this year.

“It’s obviously mentally draining at times, you do so much work in the pre-season to be able to get to that moment … but unfortunately, we’ve fallen short.

“Losing Paps [Ryan Papenhuyzen] and Nelson [Asofa-Solomona] and then it’s unfortunate with Eli’s [Katoa] condition, we’ve lost a little bit of experience there.

Ryan Papenhuyzen. Getty

“These young boys that are coming through has been pretty special … there’s some hungry blokes in our squad pushing for spots.

“I think the future is bright in Melbourne.”

Papenhuyzen and Asofa-Solomona have both left the NRL for the upcoming season, while Katoa is set to be sidelined for all of 2026 due to a head injury suffered while playing for Tonga during the Pacific Championships.

Munster and his Storm teammates will kick off their season against the Parramatta Eels on Thursday, March 5 at AAMI Park.