{"id":20215,"date":"2025-07-25T04:08:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T04:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/20215\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T04:08:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T04:08:09","slug":"how-wayne-bennett-feels-about-a-late-late-south-sydney-return-for-cameron-murray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/20215\/","title":{"rendered":"How Wayne Bennett feels about a late, late South Sydney return for Cameron Murray"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI\u2019m not pushing him or prodding him to come back. If that\u2019s the reward he wants to give himself for what he has put in \u2026 just after the operation, he had an infection, which set him back as well. His courage is unbelievable. The way he has worked so hard, I\u2019m in his hands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhatever decision he makes will be after he\u2019s spoken with the medical staff.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe won\u2019t play if the medical staff aren\u2019t confident, but they are at the moment, and everything is tracking well. None of us want to see him not play if he is fit to play. It\u2019s important to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Peter Mamouzelos failed a HIA last weekend\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/c0ea734ded647f8725cc85777b42a53dd0fcfa26.jpeg\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Peter Mamouzelos failed a HIA last weekendCredit: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>If Murray does return, and with the Kangaroos thin on forwards, especially with several Origin players to defect to Samoa and Tonga, the 27-year-old would be a handy selection for new coach Kevin Walters.<\/p>\n<p>Murray loves the Kangaroos\u2019 jersey \u2013 he even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/cam-murray-took-a-wrist-injury-into-sunday-s-kangaroos-test-that-could-be-very-costly-for-rabbitohs-20241102-p5knb5.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">played a Test with a wrist injury<\/a>, which disrupted most of his pre-season \u2013 but he is only focused on clubland.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt means a lot for him to play for Australia, but he\u2019s not trying to come back for that reason,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wants to reward himself for nine months of rehab. Even if it\u2019s just a couple of games, it\u2019s a game he loves, and it\u2019s something he hasn\u2019t been able to do. That\u2019s his psyche more than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Latrell Mitchell (hamstring) is expected back in round 23 against the Gold Coast Titans\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/9ac08d6ecc02263eb1ba3bc1223ef417785c032a.jpeg\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Latrell Mitchell (hamstring) is expected back in round 23 against the Gold Coast TitansCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>Bennett said 11 players were now unavailable, including Cody Walker (hamstring), Campbell Graham (back), Bud Sullivan (leg) and Mitchell (hamstring), who Bennett said would return for the round-23 clash against Gold Coast.<\/p>\n<p>Loading<\/p>\n<p>Prop <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/souths-lose-their-most-in-form-player-as-panthers-win-six-straight-20250718-p5mg3d.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Keaon Koloamtangi<\/a> also broke down with an ankle injury last week against Penrith, while Peter Mamouzelos failed a HIA minutes later in the same game. Then halfback Jamie Humphreys suffered a concussion attempting a try in one of the final plays of the game, and failed testing afterwards.<\/p>\n<p>Humphreys\u2019 omission has paved the way for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/last-rabbit-standing-lewis-dodd-to-finally-wear-south-sydney-s-no-7-20250722-p5mgx3.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lewis Dodd<\/a> to finally wear the No. 7 jersey, with Bennett happy for the Englishman\u2019s football to do the talking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m not pushing him or prodding him to come back. If that\u2019s the reward he wants to give&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-20215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}