{"id":821374,"date":"2026-07-24T18:17:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T18:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/821374\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T18:17:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T18:17:17","slug":"nrl-2026-craig-bellamy-gives-his-blessing-for-munster-to-join-png-chiefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/821374\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Craig Bellamy gives his blessing for Munster to join PNG Chiefs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veteran Storm coach Craig Bellamy has given his blessing to Cameron Munster to finish his career with the PNG Chiefs if the five-eighth decides that\u2019s the best move for him and his family.<\/p>\n

Munster is in his 13th season with the Storm and still has another year to run on his deal, but he could be on the move in 2028 after it was revealed this week that the club had given him permission to negotiate with the Chiefs.<\/p>\n

The Queensland captain turns 32 in a few weeks but would be a wonderful veteran presence in PNG where he would partner Jarome Luai in the halves.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still a chance he stays put at the Storm, but Bellamy said his champion five-eighth had earned the right to earn huge money with the expansion side. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think \u2018Mun\u2019 has done a whole heap for our club, and he\u2019s done it for a long period of time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been a wonderful player for our club, so if he sees that he wants to go to the team in Papua New Guinea then I\u2019d be happy to let him go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are other people in the club that make that decision, and I don\u2019t know if that will be the same decision as me, but he\u2019s done a lot for our club, has been a valuable servant and very loyal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he wants to do that and that\u2019s going to help him in later life then I\u2019m willing to say OK, but there\u2019s got to be a bit of water that flows under the bridge before he goes there, so we\u2019ll just see what happens.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll go on the record as saying that if he wants to go and his family wants to go, then he goes with my blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Storm skipper Harry Grant said he couldn\u2019t fault Munster for having a look and that now was a perfect time for him to explore his options given he\u2019s currently sidelined with a knee issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll probably be a busy time with the World Cup and everything like that (later in the year) so it\u2019s probably not a bad time for him to have that look,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just part of the game. The NRL has brought a couple of new teams in so I don\u2019t think you can fault players for having that opportunity to talk to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Grant hopes to return this season after he became the latest Storm star to go down injured.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s best hooker left the field just before half-time in his side\u2019s 28-26 loss to Souths with a hamstring concern, with Melbourne now only a mathematical hope of finishing in the top eight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just part of footy, but it\u2019s disappointing,\u201d he said in the sheds, worried about the number of injuries in the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just running when I was accelerating. It\u2019s part of the game and it\u2019s a pretty common occurrence at the moment from last week into this week on the back of the Origin period. I think that\u2019s got to be looked at a bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels pretty similar to the other ones (on my left leg) but you\u2019re just going off your feeling and the memory of last time. I\u2019ll get a scan and go from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cFingers crossed (I play again this year) but you\u2019re a little bit blind until you go for scans and get some feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as \u2018He goes with my blessing\u2019: Craig Bellamy\u2019s touching message to Cameron Munster as Harry Grant gives an update on his injury<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran Storm coach Craig Bellamy has given his blessing to Cameron Munster to finish his career with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[396189,396201,396168,396156,32601,172475,396179,376963,396163,377450,377373,381157,396173,396183,379096,396176,381101,376730,396177,396187,396185,396190,396155,396161,396196,396191,377719,394390,64,63,119148,4567,13149,8089,154222,9116,23622,394584,8095,396164,396171,379545,396200,383315,376761,396178,396170,377460,396160,396165,396157,12979,4582,317216,13307,396167,647,396204,396186,136041,396158,396181,761,762,310326,158,396174,185072,395167,27284,6622,377952,7820,15560,234580,129167,396166,16282,85,17711,396199,382403,396197,387718,378784,396193,396175,99646,396172,382205,396159,377453,396195,74713,396182,396194,396198,225862,377421,380184,393515,396180,396203,396169,392138,396192,388255,396184,378787,315971,377215,396162,378969,377217,380519,199184,364611,6618,396202,11814,396188],"class_list":["post-821374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-28-26-loss","tag-s-best-hooker","tag-s-links","tag-s-touching-message","tag-32601","tag-172475","tag-a-bad-time","tag-a-bit","tag-a-busy-time","tag-a-chance","tag-a-couple","tag-a-few-weeks","tag-a-hamstring-concern","tag-a-knee-issue","tag-a-little","tag-a-long-period","tag-a-look","tag-a-lot","tag-a-perfect-time","tag-a-pretty-common-occurrence","tag-a-scan","tag-a-stunning-response","tag-a-valuable-servant","tag-a-whole-heap","tag-a-wonderful-player","tag-a-wonderful-veteran-presence","tag-an-update","tag-another-year","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bellamy","tag-cameron-munster","tag-contracts","tag-craig-bellamy","tag-fingers","tag-footy","tag-grant","tag-half-time","tag-harry-grant","tag-his-13th-season","tag-his-blessing","tag-his-career","tag-his-champion","tag-his-deal","tag-his-family","tag-his-injury","tag-his-options","tag-his-side","tag-honest-munster-verdict","tag-huge-money","tag-injured-the-world","tag-injuries","tag-jarome-luai","tag-last-time","tag-last-week","tag-later-life","tag-melbourne","tag-most-coaches","tag-mun","tag-munster","tag-my-blessing","tag-my-left-leg","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-teams","tag-nrl","tag-only-a-mathematical-hope","tag-other-people","tag-our-club","tag-papua-new-guinea","tag-part","tag-permission","tag-players","tag-png","tag-png-chiefs","tag-scans","tag-some-feedback","tag-souths","tag-sports","tag-storm","tag-storm-skipper-harry-grant","tag-that-decision","tag-that-look","tag-that-opportunity","tag-the-back","tag-the-best-move","tag-the-bridge","tag-the-chiefs","tag-the-chiefs-the-queensland-captain","tag-the-club","tag-the-expansion-side","tag-the-field","tag-the-five-eighth","tag-the-game","tag-the-halves-there","tag-the-latest-storm-star","tag-the-memory","tag-the-moment","tag-the-move","tag-the-nrl","tag-the-number","tag-the-origin-period","tag-the-other-ones","tag-the-png-chiefs","tag-the-record","tag-the-right","tag-the-same-decision","tag-the-sheds","tag-the-storm","tag-the-team","tag-the-top-eight","tag-the-world-cup-and-everything","tag-the-year","tag-their-best-players","tag-this-season","tag-this-week","tag-this-year","tag-time","tag-veteran-storm-coach-craig-bellamy","tag-water","tag-your-feeling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821374","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=821374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}