Cameron Munster has credited a trio of departing Queensland legends for his short-term memory loss that allowed him to turn Origin disaster into triumph on Wednesday night.
The Queensland No.6 has been anointed as the long-term heir to the throne after his match-turning line break set up the winning try in Brisbane.
But it could have easily been a nightmare for the Melbourne Storm five-eighth after his speculative first-half pass was intercepted by Tom Trbojevic to gift NSW a way back into the contest.
Retired great Darren Lockyer wasn’t surprised to see the 23-year-old bounce back like he did.
“Nothing worries Cameron; if he makes an error I don’t think he dwells on it too much,” Lockyer said.
But the man himself admitted that wasn’t always the case and that his arrival at the Storm coincided with the change.
“I used to dwell on things before I started my career down in Melbourne and Billy (Slater) and Smithy (Cameron Smith) and Coops (Cooper Cronk) just told me ‘you can’t keep kicking stones’,” he said.
“A lot of people make mistakes, it’s what you do after that and I felt like I needed to step up a lot more (after throwing the intercept pass) and I did that.”
Slater was proud his playmaker backed himself with the game on the line, Munster dummying and stepping before an offload eventually led to new halves partner Daly Cherry-Evans scoring the match winner.
“It was great to see and that’s Cameron Munster; it’s important to him (rugby league), he live and breathes it, but good to see him not go into his shell,” the captain said.
Speaking after the win, coach Kevin Walters all but locked Munster and Cherry-Evans into the No.6 and 7 next year.
“When he (Munster) understands how good he can actually be, he can be an even better player at this level,” Walters said.
“I think they, in the short time they’ve been together, they’ve got a good little combination going.”
Slater, Cooper and Smith won’t feature for Queensland again, but a fast-developing Munster can see a future alongside his latest play-making partner.
“I like the way Cherry plays; good running game, really silky, real good kicking game,” he said.
“But we’ve got to be consistent, can’t just expect to get the jersey but it’s great having him around … it’s exciting to see what we can do.”
