By Martin Gabor
Queensland coach Billy Slater has praised Cameron Munster鈥檚 courage to want to play in Wednesday night鈥檚 State of Origin decider just days after his father died, with the Maroons to rally around their 鈥渋nspirational鈥 skipper as they chase history in Sydney.
Munster left Maroons camp on Sunday to be with his family following the death of his father, Steven, and Slater delivered a powerful show of support with the team standing behind him at training.
The superstar Queensland captain was set to join his teammates in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon, with Slater unsure how much training Munster would do before what looms as a highly emotional performance on Wednesday night.
鈥淣aturally, he鈥檇 be pretty upset over the past few days, but over the past couple of days, he鈥檚 been where he鈥檚 needed to be with his mum and his sister,鈥 Slater said in Sydney.
鈥淗e spent some time with them and he鈥檚 on his way back into camp now.
鈥淯nfortunately, there鈥檚 not a switch for this (returning to footy), so it鈥檚 not that easy.鈥
Munster has prided himself on being the larrikin off the field but a man teammates can trust to deliver in the big moments, and Slater is predicting more of the same as the champion five-eighth deals with the family tragedy.
No one could have begrudged him if he had decided to make himself unavailable for the decider, but his coach revealed that withdrawing was never an option in Munster鈥檚 mind.
鈥淚 think we see that quite regularly how courageous he is,鈥 said Slater, who played with Munster at the Storm and for Queensland and named him skipper for game two.
鈥淭here was a fair bit of uncertainty with 鈥楳un鈥 on Sunday morning when I was sitting in his room, but the one thing he was certain about was that he was playing. That鈥檚 one thing he was very firm with.
鈥淗e didn鈥檛 have a lot of answers for a lot of other things, but he gave that one to me pretty straight.
鈥淥nce he said he was playing on Wednesday night, that was it for me.鈥
The past few days don鈥檛 show up in any coaching manuals, but Slater went through it earlier this year.
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 dealt with this as a coach, but I have dealt with it as a person when I lost my father in January, so I know what it鈥檚 like,鈥 he said.
鈥淐am is an inspiration for many people, he鈥檚 a hero to many people in Queensland, and I can only imagine that his dad would have been his first inspiration and hero.
鈥淗e鈥檇 be hurting right now, and that鈥檚 why he needs us and his family. The one thing about Cam is that he鈥檚 never let anyone down in the past, and I don鈥檛 expect that in the future.鈥
The Maroons will lift for their grieving skipper at Accor Stadium, with the team looking to win the series after losing game one at home.
They shocked the world to win in Perth and they now have the chance to make it back-to-back wins on the road with a rookie centre, a returning prop and a new fullback.
鈥淲e鈥檇 never won in Perth up until three weeks ago and no Queensland team has been on the road after losing the first game and wrapped up the series, and that鈥檚 the opportunity,鈥 Slater said.