- Storm star opened ahead of 2024 season
- He revealed how close he came to being fired
- He also talks about his biggest regret.
NRL superstar Cameron Munster was nearly sacked by the Melbourne Storm for his infamous white powder scandal, but that’s not his biggest regret in the sport.
Munster previously revealed the club were prepared to “tear up his contract” following the incident which saw him enter rehab for problem gambling and excessive alcohol consumption in 2021.
But you have to go back another three years to find the moment he truly regrets his stellar rugby league career.
Speaking ahead of the Storm’s successful first round clash with three-time premiership Penrith, Munster admitted the 2018 grand final produced some of his worst memories in sport.
The classy five-eighth had an upset in the 20-6 loss to the Sydney Roosters and received two sins, which contributed greatly to the score.
Munster had a night to forget in the 2018 NRL grand final, condemned twice in a heavy defeat.
Half of Storm says he regrets the second sin the most, when he was pinged for kicking Joey Manu in the head while he was lying on the ground.
Munster said he did not make contact with the kick, but still regrets his actions in the decider.
It was Munster’s second most regretted sin, an incident in which he kicked Roosters star Joey Manu in the head and left many rugby league fans calling for him to be sent off.
Munster admitted that was his biggest regret and wished he could go back in time and choose a different approach.
‘If there was a moment I could take back, it would be that. “I can commit the first sin (professional foul) because I was trying to help the team,” Munster said. fox sports.
‘The second one still eats at me to this day. I like to come in and play hard, but attack at that moment.
‘I didn’t touch it but the movement and the idea in my head was a split decision but a brain fart and if I had it again.
“It still kills me, it still eats me up, to have that moment in a game as important as that.
“I’d do a high tackle or something like that, which isn’t fair play in the game but it’s something that has a lot less malice to it.”
While the Manu incident still devours Munster, the white powder scandal changed his life for the better.
Leaked mobile phone footage showed Munster and his former Storm teammates partying in a hotel room with a mysterious white powder on the table.
The white powder scandal was the wake-up call Munster needed to resurrect their career
Storm half-heartedly agreed to enter rehab at The Banyans Health Residence in Queensland, at his own expense, and abstain from alcohol for 12 months to prove his loyalty to Storm.
“I don’t like to mention it, but after the 2021 incident, that was the most honest conversation I’ve had with Bellyache (Storm coach Craig Bellamy),” Munster said.
‘I think that was probably the most disappointed in his voice that he could talk to me.
‘He said, ‘I want you to stay, but it’s not up to me.’ “And that shocked me because at that time my wife was pregnant and obviously my contract with the club was up in the air.”
Asked if he had a feeling Melbourne was going to terminate his contract, he said he “definitely did”.
‘I had to go to them with a plan and I had to live by it. I went to rehab for four weeks.
“I needed a reality check and I needed to take a stand and show that I really wanted to stay at this club.”
