Cameron Munster has credited new Maroons coach Billy Slater with reinvigorating the team, after he claimed they had “lost that hard-working mentality” during their previous Origin campaign.
Munster revealed the coach had made it his mission to restore pride back in the Queensland jersey and make players excited to play for their state again.
“He peeled it back,” Munster said when speaking on NRL 360, a day after his man-of-the-match performance in the Maroons 16-10 victory.
“He made us a bit more excited to wear the jersey. You had to earn it. He spoke to me and said no one’s position is sealed or cemented, so everyone that wore the jersey in game one really earned it and deserved to wear it,” he said.
Munster also spoke highly of Slater’s preparation leading up to the series opener. Along with fellow Origin legends on his coaching staff including Cam Smith and Johnathan Thurston, he struck the right balance between gearing his players up for the clash, while not bogging them down with too many unnecessary details.
“When you have him- with the way he goes about things- he’s so passionate about Queensland and his rugby league.
“He didn’t leave any stone unturned and made sure everything was in front of us that we needed to do. He didn’t want to fill our heads with too much information. But I felt like he filled our heads with enough,” he said.
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Despite going behind in the game to Jack Wighton’s opener, Queensland restored parity before half-time through smart work from Selwyn Cobbo down the touchline. Munster had been on the periphery of the first half, but turned on the style in the second stanza.
"In the first half I tried to be more of a halfback instead of playing my kind of footy, which is running," he said.
"In the second half we spoke to the spine and got [Daly] Cherry-Evans to come up a bit more as a first receiver and play his style of footy.
"That made me able to play my style... running around like a headless chook."
In a dominant display full of big moments like his one-on-one steal against Stephen Crichton and his electric break where he stepped past half the NSW team, Munster finished with over 100 running metres, seven tackle busts and a linebreak.
"The belief from [Slater], Cam Smith and JT really grew into our team, from the debutants to the leaders where it made us ten foot tall," he said.
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However, Munster was quick to declare that there were multiple areas for improvement for the Maroons.
"We obviously shot ourselves in the foot a lot and gave the Blues a lot of opportunities," he said.
"Whether it was dropped ball or execution of passes - it just wasn't sticking. We can't afford to do that in the next game."
Munster is thoroughly aware of the fragility of a 1-0 series lead in Origin and how quickly matters can turn around.
"We were in this situation in 2019 and didn't end up taking the series home, so we can't get too confident," he said.
"We know the Blues are going to come out red-hot in Perth... It's going to be a massive clash."
