Melbourne Storm development coach Todd Lowrie has confirmed that Cameron Munster must prove his fitness before playing his first match of the 2024 NRL season on Thursday.
Munster has been on the sidelines for the first month of the season after injuring his groin by reportedly slipping in the shower. The Storm are currently 2-1 with young five-eighth Jonah Pezet doing a commendable job in Munster’s absence.
Lowrie said that Munster will have to complete Wednesday’s training session before he is ticked off to make his season debut.
“We will have to wait after the Captain’s Run (before officially naming Munster),” Lowrie told SENQ.
“He has trained most of last week and this week as well and we’re pretty confident he’ll be okay.
“He's been a day-to-day proposition and we’ve been excited a few times over the last few weeks.
“Cameron has seemed to have trained really well and he’s fine but then turns up the next day and he’s no good.
“He did most of the pre-season. He was fit and firing and it was while we were in Fiji that he was battling and slipped in the shower and aggravated (the groin).
“It hasn’t come good since so he must’ve been on the borderline and it was enough to tip it over.
“He’s been frustrated and we’ve been frustrated but groin injuries in older guys tend to be like that unfortunately.
“We will have to wait until we get through Wednesday morning to see what the deal is with Munster.”
The Storm have made several changes to their side that hosts the Brisbane Broncos including, halfback Jahrome Hughes and veteran forward Christian Welch.
However, beloved enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona remains on the outer at the Storm which has led to suggestions that he and coach Craig Bellamy are not seeing eye-to-eye.
Lowrie dismissed any rumours of a rift between Bellamy and Asofa-Solomona and insisted the forward’s absence was due to fitness conditioning.
“They’re alright,” Lowrie added.
“Nelson has just missed a lot of footy and training which is why he’s not in contention to play yet.
“He carried an injury throughout most of the pre-season and he’s not the kind of guy who can jump straight into first grade after just a week or two of training.
“That’s all it is and there’s nothing more there. He’s finding his feet.”
Asofa-Solomona has been named to play for Melbourne’s feeder club, the North Sydney Bears in the NSW Cup on Sunday.