Cameron Munster latest news: Melbourne Storm playmaker returns to Storm training

Cameron Munster has returned to team training just one day out from Melbourne’s blockbuster against Penrith after being quarantined for fear of passing on his illness to others at the Storm.

“He seems to be running okay,” Craig Bellamy said on Thursday. “He looks like he’s lost a bit of weight so he might be a bit quicker.”

It’s been over a week since Munster starred for the Maroons and up until this point, he had been out of action with the five-eighth having battled through fevers for Queensland as they clinched the Origin shield for the second year in a row.

Munster wasn’t required to back up for the Storm during their clash with the Sea Eagles just a few days later with Bellamy laughing off his absence in the press conference after his side had eased to a 24-6 win.

“He was sitting up in the box with a mask on,” the coach said.

“I don’t know if he was going out to rob a bank or something, I’m not quite sure.

“He just had some sort of illness. It was an illness I’ve never heard of before, actually. I don’t know whether Munster made it up or the doctor pulled one out of the bag.

“I’m not quite sure whether the 10 or 12 schooners he had down the Caxton after the game added to it as well.”

Bellamy’s humorous take after the match led many to believe Munster was a certainty to lace up the boots against the ladder-leading Panthers on Friday night, although he has only just returned to the fold in time.

“He’s still sick at the moment,” Jahrome Hughes revealed on Tuesday.

“The club is giving him a couple of days off just to get him back to being okay.

“I think he was much better today, but what he had I don’t think they wanted him to pass it on to anyone else, so they’re just playing it smart. But he’ll be right to play.”

Cameron Munster opens up on illness during Origin II

Queensland coach Billy Slater opened up on the panic which spread through the camp just hours before kickoff at Suncorp Stadium with the playmaker’s condition rapidly deteriorating.

“There was a moment just before warm-ups where we were quite concerned,” he told Nine’s NRL Sunday Footy Show.

“He was going downhill pretty quick.

“He wasn’t all that crook last year when he had Covid, but he wasn’t allowed to play, so I didn’t know how crook he was going to have to be to keep him out.”

Munster revealed after Origin II that he had been struck down with illness before the game but never considered pulling out after missing the fixture last year due to being subjected to Covid protocols.

“I was crook as – fevers and that,” he told Sport Confidential.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I was crook, very crook. But I would play on one leg if I had to.

“I kept bringing it back to regardless of flu, I wasn’t going to give up the opportunity to play, the opportunity to wear the Queensland jersey with my name on the back.”