By any stretch of the NRL imagination it’s hard to say Cameron Munster or the Melbourne Storm have under-achieved this year.
This is, after all, a team running fourth heading into the final month of the regular season that has once again defied pre-season predictions of a drop-off after a decade-plus as premiership contenders.
But they’re missing something – the Big Three era is long gone and the aura that once followed the Storm has now disappeared.
Munster, in particular, is not sparking their attack with the same impact as recent years.
It’s not that Munster hasn’t been good, he’s been very good, as is usually the case, but the Storm need him to be elite.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
He seems to be taking on more of an organising role instead of being the game breaker.
Munster has only produced nine line break assists this season and made 10 himself – last season he created 15 gaps in the opposition defensive line and burst through himself 17 times.
After overcoming a few off-field demons and then putting to bed the speculation about his future at the end of last season by recommitting to the Storm long term, everything was in place for Munster to dominate.
Except the Storm pack doesn’t have the same oomph as it did when Jesse and Kenny Bromwich were making their mark in attack and defence with Felise Kaufusi bringing extra aggression and Brandon Smith giving the side another unpredictable element.
The departure of Smith to the Roosters and the other three to the Dolphins means Melbourne are no longer owning the middle of the field.
Maybe Munster should have joined Dolphins after all to get out of his comfort zone while also remaining in it by following the Bromwich boys and Kaufusi.
Ryan Papenhuyzen’s ongoing absence with his serious knee injury has also been a factor – in on the NRL’s great storylines for 2023, the injury-plagued fullback made a successful return after more than a year out last weekend in the Queensland Cup.
The Storm have pulled the right rein by not rushing him back into the NRL side even though they’ve got a crucial clash with Canberra at AAMI Park on Sunday which could very well decide which team snares fourth spot in the finals.
If he can get back into the top team in the next few weeks, whether as a starter or an attacking weapon off the bench, it would be enormous for the Storm’s chances of playoff success.
The Storm are not getting the ball downfield as far as previous years for the likes of Munster and halves partner Jahrome Hughes to weave their magic.
They averaged 1555.5 running metres per game last year but that has plummeted to 1409 this season. Three years ago when they won their last premiership it was over 1700m.
While their defensive prowess is still top notch, ranked fourth overall, their attack is nowhere near where it needs to be for them to be genuine title contenders.
They are eighth in points and tries scores, 10th in try assists, 11th in line breaks, 12th in tackle breaks and seventh in tackles in the opposition 20-metre zone at 28.8 per game, nearly 10 behind the Penrith benchmark.
They rank in the bottom four teams for engaging the defensive line – they’re tracking to be solid but not spectacular.
And it’s not like they’re flat-track bullies – Melbourne have done fairly well against the other teams currently in the top 10, winning six of 11, beating the Broncos, Warriors and Rabbitohs.
But it’s the two losses to the Panthers which have created the biggest cloud over their premiership prospects – a 34-16 rare thumping at home in Round 18 and last week’s 26-6 drubbing at Penrith.
The premiers had a combined 20 more sets than them over the course of those two games.
Penrith only shaded them marginally in terms of set distance in each match so the lopsided results can’t merely be blamed on dominance from the pack.
It was more the cumulative effect of the Panthers machine grinding Melbourne into submission, as they do with most teams who end up Panthers roadkill, rather than blowing opponents away in one particular area.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
There has been plenty of talk about whether James Tedesco will retain his spot as Kangaroos fullback in light of the red-hot form of Reece Walsh, Dylan Edwards and Kalyn Ponga.
The same can be said of Munster’s place as Nathan Cleary’s halves partner after they led Australia to the World Cup last year with competition coming from his Queensland comrade.
Daly Cherry-Evans has been one of the form halves in the NRL and the Manly veteran could easily slot in at five-eighth for the Kangaroos alongside Cleary.
On current form, it’d be an each-way bet for coach Mal Meninga.
Munster is the kind of player who is destined to be remembered as a big-game player rather than a consistent club footy star, the kind that wins Dally Ms.
There are big games on the horizon for the Storm and they need him to lift no so much his output but his impact otherwise the club will have a slim chance at best of celebrating their 25th birthday with a title.
VICTORIAN
Roar Rookie
Unfortunately I was really a fan of Sims coming down to help out, but for me I think Katoa and Moeroa are probably our real fix, they are both very hard men to tackle, we just need a couple of games with them uninjured. Having said that there are a couple of young guys in Host Plus who will be pretty devastating over coming years. But yep Munny needs to pick up the slack for sure. And we know he is more than capable.
Nat
Roar Guru
Hi kk, At the moment he can stay right where he is. Brisbane might have to face him 2x in the next few weeks.
Dionysus
Roar Rookie
Hey Noodles "I don’t think we’ll be lifting the trophy for a few more years. " What that says to me is that you think Melbourne have blown their salary cap on the wrong players and signed to too long a contract. For a team currently in the top 4, anything else should be fixable. Put it this way, add a fully on song Paps, Olam and Munster to this team and only the Pinkies could stop them.
Cam
Roar Rookie
I don’t think Munster has been too far off his best form, and it probably depends on what stats you measure him against. His run metres are probably the only stat that is considerably down (down 12m per game from last season), but that is consistent with the whole Storm team. Munster certainly misses Kenny Bromwich on his edge, with Trent Loiero’s contributions usually comprise of a handful of errors, penalties and 6-agains. As a generalisation, I reckon the Storm’s marquee players (Munster, Grant, Hughes and to a lesser extent NAS) have been good. It has been the inconsistency of the rest of the team that is letting them down. And here in lies a fundamental issue with paying 4 or 5 players the bulk of your salary cap. It means you need to rely on minimum wage blokes like Loiero, Eisenhuth, Sims, McDonald, Garlick, Wishart, Pene, Anderson, Ieremia and Jennings to do their bit, which they invariably haven’t. For mine, the Storm should get a good bump with the return of Tonumaipea, Katoa, Moeroa and hopefully Paps in a week or so. I think they can win well over the next 3 weeks, lose against the Broncos at Suncorp, which will potentially leave them in 4th. Using my crystal ball, which admittedly hasn’t been calibrated, the Storm’s final series would look something like: an away loss to the Panthers, a home win against the Knights, to face the Broncos for a GF berth vs the Panthers.
Noodles
Roar Rookie
We had our glory in 2020 and I don’t think we’ll be lifting the trophy for a few more years. We’ll always be a top 8 team but it’s time for teams like Broncos, Warriors or Raiders to lift the premiership. Injuries haven’t helped this year along with inexperienced players. Id say we’ll win again in 2025. Munster will stay and be the next one to get a statue.
kk
Roar Pro
Hi Nat, Munster's recent efforts are borderline steward's room stuff. Watch for for a big form reversal.
matth
Roar Guru
Yep :stoked:
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
showing your age if you remember that song, Matt. :happy:
matth
Roar Guru
Munster Mash. I see what you did there :stoked:
Dionysus
Roar Rookie
As a Storm fan, I concur with much in this article. Melbourne have been very frustrating at times this season and have lost some games against teams where they should have run away with it. I wouldn't give their defence the green light though it is no where near what it has been in the past and needs to improve if the Storm are to win through. Attack is the big problem though and I do believe this is the key. The best form of defence is attack after all. Munster does need to step up but there are others who can make a difference. Getting Olam back at his best plus the return of a fully functioning Papenhuzen might just be key.
Nat
Roar Guru
Is this a bit of an eye-test analysis support by one stat? All bar LBA (even though he is being measured now against a full season) his stats are up there with every other year even though he is playing with a lesser team. What really helps an LBA stat is a player running into a hole. Hughes has been in & out of the team so he has had to take on more of a controlling game. To put him in the same category as Tede insofar as losing his rep jumper (to a halfback no less because there maybe only 1, Walker, who measures up) is laughable. Storm are 4th with a far lesser roster than Roosters who may just miss out on finals completely. Munster was only 3 Dally M points behind the leader when it went behind closed doors.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I’ve been waiting for Munster to explode back into top form 1) because he usually does that at this time of year. Typical pattern is a couple of quiet games post Origin and then back 2) he’s in my SuperCoach team Munster seems to be playing almost third fiddle in attack behind Hughes and Grant at the moment Totally agree that he needs to unleash for the Storm to be any chance. Last year he famously got off the booze and had an elite season. I wonder if getting back on the sauce has slowed him a step or two? Who is putting pressure on him to be retained as Australia’s 6 though? I think his spot in the Kangaroos is more secure than anyone’s Walker use the only one I can think of who would be remotely in the frame, but he’s having his own form worries and would need to jump out of the ground to have any hope of unseating Munster
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
This heading could also read "Melbourne need much more impact from their forwards or they'll be mashed in the finals". Paul hit the n ail on the head when he talked about the pack losing so much talent this year. The Storm have had a knack for bringing in guys playing average footy elsewhere and fitting them into the Storm machine but that hasn't worked quite so well this season, which may in part explain why their overall attacking numbers are down. They're also trying to go toe-to-toe with sides like Penrith in grinding games and in the Smith, Cronk and Slater era, they'd likely have come out on top, 90% of the time. Now though, even a very good player like Munster can't match it, not without a lot of help from his pack in particular. The Storm is still a deserving top 4 team but unless they can get more from their pack in the next few weeks, it's tough to see them seriously challenging this year.