{"id":422542,"date":"2026-05-11T16:58:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T16:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/422542\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T16:58:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T16:58:26","slug":"nrl-2026-queensland-maroons-captain-cameron-munster-casts-aside-doubts-as-state-of-origin-approaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/422542\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Queensland Maroons captain Cameron Munster casts aside doubts as State of Origin approaches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Queensland captain Cameron Munster declared his return to form as the Storm ended a seven-match losing streak was a case of &#8220;right time, right place&#8221; as he prepares for Origin.<\/p>\n<p>Munster, who is set to have a new halves partner for the upcoming series after Tom Dearden was ruled out with a syndesmosis injury, admitted that he had begun to doubt himself during Melbourne&#8217;s unprecedented losing run.<\/p>\n<p>He responded by entering Sunday&#8217;s game against Wests Tigers, with &#8211; in the words of coach Craig Bellamy &#8211; a \u201clook in his eye\u201d, and he delivered a two-try performance to help the Storm triumph 44-16 at AAMI Park.<\/p>\n<p>      &#13;<br \/>\n        599&#8243;, &#8220;&gt;809&#8221;, &#8220;&gt;959&#8243;]&#8221;<br \/>\n          data-eqio-prefix=&#8221;video-post-screen&#8221;<br \/>\n          ref=&#8221;root&#8221;<br \/>\n        &gt;<\/p>\n<p>            &#13;<br \/>\n              &#13;<br \/>\n                  Up Next&#13;<br \/>\n              &#13;<br \/>\n              &#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"card-content__topic o-topic u-color-white u-display-flex u-flex-wrap-yes u-font-weight-500\" v-if=\"isTvContent\">&#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;<br \/>\n                \/&#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;\n              <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n              &#13;<br \/>\n              &#13;<br \/>\n              &#13;<\/p>\n<p>            &#13;<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;<br \/>\n                  &#13;<br \/>\n                  &#13;<br \/>\n                    Replay&#13;<br \/>\n                  &#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;<br \/>\n                  &#13;<br \/>\n                  &#13;<br \/>\n                    Play Next&#13;<br \/>\n                  &#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;\n              <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>        &#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"video-player__title\">Munster finds his rhythm<\/p>\n<p>With Jahrome Hughes, Harry Grant and Sua Fa&#8217;alogo, Munster was part of a spine that controlled the game &#8211; particularly when the Storm piled on 20 unanswered points early in the first half.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you start losing six or seven [games], you start questioning yourself &#8211; are you still up for the challenge?,\u201d Munster said. \u201cI\u2019ve always got that competitive nature. Once I lose that, I&#8217;ll not want to play anymore.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To lose games, it is what it is. You can sit down, kick cans all you want, be a victim. You always you question yourself &#8211; not after two or three losses, but when you start losing six or seven, you think, am I the problem?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re a great class outfit the Tigers, and we came to play. We\u2019ve got to do that next week.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You can always have those question marks over yourself\u2026 my job is to go out there and play footy, so when I\u2019m not up to scratch, you always ask those questions over whether you can be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Grant, the Storm captain, spoke about Munster\u2019s competitive nature during the post-match press conference, saying: \u201cHe\u2019s one of the harshest critics of himself. He really demands a lot from himself&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The pair have played together at the Storm since 2018 and have been regular team-mates for Queensland and Australia.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n    <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Maroons captain Cameron Munster has returned to form ahead of Origin.\" class=\"inline-image__image o-shadowed-box\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/munster_yeo_soo_launch_mcg_260420_0072.jpg\"\/>&#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<br \/>\n      Maroons captain Cameron Munster has returned to form ahead of Origin.&#13;<br \/>\n        \u00a9Grant Trouville\/NRL Photos&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes he tries to bring other people into the game, whereas sometimes Cam Munster is the strength of the team when he gets his game on. He\u2019s the ultimate competitor, and he\u2019s shown that over the last little bit,&#8221; Grant said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, we had some people inside and outside that got their roles down, and helped him play his game and perform to the level that we know he can.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are pretty quick to jump to criticism. I steer clear of it, fingers crossed he has. He knows how good he is, and we\u2019ve got to just keep reminding him of that, and hopefully he brings that to our team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>      &#13;<br \/>\n        599&#8243;, &#8220;&gt;809&#8221;, &#8220;&gt;959&#8243;]&#8221;<br \/>\n          data-eqio-prefix=&#8221;video-post-screen&#8221;<br \/>\n          ref=&#8221;root&#8221;<br \/>\n        &gt;<\/p>\n<p>            &#13;<br \/>\n              &#13;<br \/>\n                  Up Next&#13;<br \/>\n              &#13;<br \/>\n              &#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"card-content__topic o-topic u-color-white u-display-flex u-flex-wrap-yes u-font-weight-500\" v-if=\"isTvContent\">&#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;<br \/>\n                \/&#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;\n              <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n              &#13;<br \/>\n              &#13;<br \/>\n              &#13;<\/p>\n<p>            &#13;<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;<br \/>\n                  &#13;<br \/>\n                  &#13;<br \/>\n                    Replay&#13;<br \/>\n                  &#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;<br \/>\n                  &#13;<br \/>\n                  &#13;<br \/>\n                    Play Next&#13;<br \/>\n                  &#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;\n              <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>        &#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"video-player__title\">Harry Grant Try<\/p>\n<p>It was a timely performance from Munster, who reminded Maroons coach Billy Slater exactly what he can produce ahead of the opening Origin at Accor Stadium on May 27.<\/p>\n<p>Munster and Grant are hoping to lead Queensland to victory in Sydney so they have the chance to win the series in front of Melbourne fans in Origin II at the MCG on June 17.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis performance was just the right time, right place [for Origin],&#8221; he said. &#8220;It would have been lovely to do what I&#8217;ve done today five or six weeks ago, but sometimes it doesn\u2019t pan out.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You\u2019ve always got to go through hard times and adversity, and hopefully we can get out of that rut, and there&#8217;s a challenge ahead of us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t really talk to Billy [Slater, Maroons coach] about selection. I\u2019ve got to deal with my own backyard, and it\u2019ll take care of itself. If I keep playing some back-to-back good games and consistency, going into Magic Round, I\u2019ll see how I can put my front foot forward.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"blockquote__text\">I know it&#8217;s not ideal with Tommy [Dearden] at the moment. I&#8217;m pretty disappointed for him. He&#8217;s been playing some good footy, and it&#8217;s going to be a big loss.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But whoever&#8217;s in the spine, I&#8217;m sure they&#8217;ll get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Storm will look to continue turning their season around against the Eels next week at Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t mind Brisbane &#8211; although obviously not last week against Dolphins! I&#8217;ve had some great memories of Suncorp, and hopefully we can turn it on,\u201d Munster said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland captain Cameron Munster declared his return to form as the Storm ended a seven-match losing streak was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-422542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}