Queensland hooker Harry Grant has spoken from Maroons camp on the Sunshine Coast today, offering a heart-felt perspective on the impact of the sudden passing of Cameron Munster’s father, Steven.
“It’s a tough time for Cameron and his family, they’re a beautiful family, and I’ve had plenty of moments and experiences with them over the years,” Grant said of his Queensland and Melbourne Storm teammate.
“I’ve been lucky enough to grow up in the same region as Cam and watch his journey down to the Storm, and now as captain of the Queensland Maroons—it brings so much pride to the whole of his family, and I’m sure ‘Stevie boy’ would love to see him out there.”
Asked about Munster’s desire to play in Wednesday night’s decider, Grant was impressed, but certainly not surprised.
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“It shows the character of Cameron and who he is, and how much the Maroon jersey means to him and his family,” Grant said.
“I think it’s very brave the way he’s handling the situation and we have to respect the way he’s doing things and give him that time and space—he wants to lace those boots up, wear the maroon and make his family proud.
“He can’t be thinking about Wednesday night right now, but once the game comes around he’ll be there to do his job.”
‘Plenty of possibilities’
Asked if Maroons players had any concerns Munster may still not play, Grant was non-committal.
“There’s plenty of possibilities you could go through,” Grant said.
“But you’d just be wasting energy thinking about that, the coaches will have their understanding and they’ll have those conversations, but as a playing group we don’t need to be taking our heads there.
“If Cam and his family are okay for him to travel south, he’ll make the captain’s run (in Sydney), we have training late Tuesday afternoon so that gives him every chance to spend as much time with his family as he can and then potentially be back,” he added.
Grant acknowledged the weekend’s sad news would likely have a galvanising effect as Queensland enter the winner-take-all decider at Accor Stadium, but added the Maroons squad was already laser focused on securing victory.
“There’s already plenty of motivation, individually, for us as Queenslanders to make Queensland proud on Wednesday night and this is another, to be able to wrap our arms around our mate and make him and his family proud as well,” he said.
“It’s a real reminder that this is just a game—as much as we love it, there’s more to life than rugby league.”