- Cameron Munster delivered an emotional interview following State of Origin II
- He paid tribute to his team and coach Billy Slater after a tough few weeks
Queensland captain Cameron Munster has lumped praise on his players for weathering a dramatic late surge from New South Wales, adding that his team had to turn up for under-pressure coach Billy Slater.
But after sealing the 26-24 victory and levelling the series, an emotional Munster appeared to drop the F-bomb live on Channel 9’s coverage of State of Origin II.
Munster had noted how the Maroons had been heavily criticised following their lacklustre performance in the series opener, with Slater copping a lot of flack on behlf of the team.
‘Queenslanders love being underdogs,’ the Melbourne Storm star said reflecting on the match to Channel 9. ‘We shot ourselves in the foot (in the second half) but we just worked hard for each other.’
‘Obviously the pressure and all the criticism that Billy Slater’s been getting for us, I’m just glad we played for him tonight.
‘He loves Queensland, loves this group, there’s been a lot of speculation in the media and we had to turn up for our coach tonight and we f**king did.’
His comments also come after Slater has been embroiled in a war of words with Aaron Woods this week, after the former New South Wales prop branded him a ‘grub’.
But on Tuesday, the Queensland coach found himself in the spotlight after he appeared to shoot a barb back at Woods, in which he mentioned former Maroons coach Paul Green, who tragically died in 2022.
Slater has since issued a private apology to Green’s family while also publicly apologising for the comment.
In Perth, his team bounced back from their State of Origin I defeat, on Slater’s birthday no less, taking the series to a decider in Sydney next week.
‘[We] Had a really good first half,’ Munster said.
‘Second half, just shot ourselves in the foot. Can’t afford to give the team like that so much ball…
‘But in game three, we need to be a lot better in certain positions, and. We can’t afford to give them piggybacks.’
Munster was outstanding making 131m during the match while also making 21 tackles during the match.
He copped praise from footy legend Phil ‘Gus’ Gould on Channel 9, with the Canterbury boss claiming the Storm star has been galvanised by the captaincy.
‘I don’t think there are any excuses, you get a scoreline of 20-6 in a half of football in origin it means one team’s been really good and the other’s been really poor,’ Gould said.
‘Queensland have come up with plenty of energy and they’ve played to the conditions a lot better than NSW. They’ve kicked early, Munster has been extremely busy the captaincy has put a fire under him and he’s into everything.
‘NSW have been so undisciplined the penalty count is horrific against them. The six-again count, turnovers with the ball. They’re not getting to their kicks. Really, Queensland have just been far too good for them in these conditions.’
More to follow…
