{"id":818166,"date":"2026-07-23T06:17:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T06:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/818166\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T06:17:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T06:17:21","slug":"png-chiefs-closing-on-another-huge-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/818166\/","title":{"rendered":"PNG Chiefs closing on another huge signing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cameron Munster has been granted permission to negotiate with the PNG Chiefs in a move that could land the expansion side their second NRL premiership-winning playmaker.<\/p>\n

Five-eighth Munster earns a seven-figure salary on his Melbourne deal, which expires at the end of next year, and would ordinarily be unable to negotiate with rivals until November.<\/p>\n

But AAP have been told the Storm have allowed their longest-serving active player to entertain a move to the Chiefs, who will become the NRL’s 19th team from 2028.<\/p>\n

\"Munster\"<\/p>\n

Cameron Munster has put many teams on his back through his career. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Munster’s management opened dialogue with PNG in recent days and the 31-year-old may fly north to tour Port Moresby with club staff as he nurses a knee injury.<\/p>\n

The playmaker could yet re-sign with the Storm, where he has played 251 games since his NRL debut in 2014.<\/p>\n

But the door is now open for Munster to form a potent halves combination with Jarome Luai, the four-time premiership-winning former Panther who became the Chiefs’ inaugural signing in April.<\/p>\n

\"NRL\"<\/p>\n

Cameron Munster won the first of his two NRL premierships, so far, in 2017. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

The Chiefs’ roster, assembled by journalist-turned-football manager Michael Chammas, is shaping as elite more than 18 months before they play their first game.<\/p>\n

Aside from Luai, the Chiefs have already secured the NRL’s greatest-ever tryscorer in Alex Johnston and former NSW utility Connor Watson.<\/p>\n

In recent days, they have been linked to cross-code stars Zac Lomax and Joey Manu, who were both top-tier outside backs before moves to rugby union.<\/p>\n

\"Jarome<\/p>\n

Jarome Luai was the Chiefs’ inaugural marquee signing. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Tax-free salaries are helping to entice players to the Federal Government-backed Chiefs, who could be onto their biggest signing yet with Munster.<\/p>\n

Munster is Queensland’s captain in State of Origin, won the 2017 and 2020 premierships with the Storm and counts a World Cup win among his 15 caps for Australia.<\/p>\n

He has had a mixed 2026 season at the lukewarm Storm but is still considered one of the league’s premier halves, winning Dally M five-eighth of the year three times.<\/p>\n

\"Cameron<\/p>\n

Cameron Munster has been a long-time star for Melbourne, Queensland and Australia. (Dave Hunt\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Known for his competitive edge, leadership and ball-playing nous, Munster was linked with a move to the NRL’s previous two expansion sides.<\/p>\n

But the Dolphins failed in a bid to lure Munster back to Queensland for their inaugural 2023 season, before he pledged to honour his Storm deal rather than move to Perth for 2027.<\/p>\n

Munster’s knee injury will keep him out of Friday’s away trip to face South Sydney, whom the Storm must defeat to remain a realistic finals chance.<\/p>\n

He is expected back in the final weeks of the regular season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cameron Munster has been granted permission to negotiate with the PNG Chiefs in a move that could land…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,4567,4582,761,762,158,234580,85,99646],"class_list":["post-818166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cameron-munster","tag-jarome-luai","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-png-chiefs","tag-sports","tag-the-chiefs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818166","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=818166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}