{"id":642991,"date":"2026-05-01T15:34:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T15:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/642991\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:34:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T15:34:17","slug":"nrl-2026-melbourne-storm-star-makes-sad-retirement-admission-amid-career-worst-losing-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/642991\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Melbourne Storm star makes sad retirement admission amid career-worst losing streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cameron Munster<\/a> has made the staggering admission that he’s contemplated retiring from the NRL<\/a>, amid a career-worst losing streak with the Melbourne Storm. The bombshell revelation comes at a difficult time for the Storm after the club revealed veteran coach Craig Bellamy<\/a> had been diagnosed with an unspecified neurodegenerative disorder.<\/p>\n

The footy world has rallied around Bellamy<\/a> after the devastating news, with Raiders coach Ricky Stuart – who was a former teammate of Bellamy’s at Canberra – among those to send his support. But Melbourne bosses insist it won’t have an impact on the 66-year-old’s ability to lead the team going forward.<\/p>\n

\"Pictured<\/p>\n

Cameron Munster’s (L) shock admission about retirement comes at a difficult time after Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy (R) was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disorder. Pic: Getty<\/p>\n

“Over recent weeks, in consultation with specialists, Craig has undergone a series of medical tests and has since been diagnosed with a form of neurodegenerative disorder,” the club said. “He is receiving the best possible medical treatment and has been advised by specialists that his diagnosis will not have an impact on his ability to coach the team in the immediate future.”<\/p>\n

The situation is sure to have an impact on the Storm playing group, particularly Munster, who has played under Bellamy for the best part of 13 seasons and is close to the veteran coach. The Maroons skipper has already been well down on form this year and admitted recently that he hoped it wouldn’t cost him an Origin spot.<\/p>\n

Speaking on his 167 podcast with former Storm teammate Ryan Papenhuyzen this week, Munster explained how his struggles at the Storm have rocked his confidence. And he says it’s even left him questioning with future in the game at various times.<\/p>\n

Cameron Munster makes shock admission about retirement<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst I\u2019ve had in my 13-year career is probably back-to-back losses, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever had six in my life. It\u2019s something I\u2019m not really used to,\u201d Munster said. \u201cYou always question a lot of things in your mind, whether you still can play the game of rugby league.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t forget how to play, but at the same time you start to question your confidence and I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a lot of guys in our team who have questioned themselves at times. There have been some times in my head thinking ‘should I be hanging them up?\u2019 to be completely honest.”<\/p>\n

\"Seen<\/p>\n

Cameron Munster admits the thought of retiring has crossed his mind during the Melbourne Storm’s six-game losing streak. Pic: Getty<\/p>\n

(Robert Cianflone via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Munster concedes his defence has not been up to scratch this year, and he was badly exposed for one of Tallis Duncan’s three tries in the huge loss to Souths last week. He’s also failed to get the Melbourne attack clicking alongside halves partner Jahrome Hughes, who’s been ruled out of Friday night’s trip to face the Dolphins due to concussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately I just haven\u2019t been getting the rewards or the results I\u2019ve been chasing. I think with everything, the more you try it doesn\u2019t work for you,\u201d Munster added. \u201cAt the moment my defence hasn\u2019t been great.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019m making decisions I wouldn\u2019t usually make. But when you\u2019re under pressure and trying to solve things on your own and that\u2019s not what you need for the team, you need to stay in the system. We\u2019re probably just in survival mode.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cameron Munster has made the staggering admission that he’s contemplated retiring from the NRL, amid a career-worst losing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4567,8089,43,5332,4466,63209,44,7291,41,39,42,40,22398],"class_list":["post-642991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-cameron-munster","tag-craig-bellamy","tag-headlines","tag-losing-streak","tag-melbourne-storm","tag-neurodegenerative-disorder","tag-news","tag-ricky-stuart","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-veteran-coach"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642991","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=642991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}