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Meninga’s enormous praise for captain Munster in “pure spirit” victory
Sam Kosack • June 19th, 2025 5:42 pm
Mal Meninga has declared Queensland’s win was pure heart and spirit and credited new captain Cameron Munster with leading them to victory and ensuring the series will go to a decider.
Cameron Munster assumed the captaincy of the Queensland side in a tumultuous period for the Maroons on the back of Daly Cherry-Evans’ axing and coach Billy Slater coming under fire for comments alluding to late coach Paul Green at a press conference on Tuesday.
In his 20th Origin match, Munster inspired his state to their first ever victory in Perth, and helped keep the series alive as both teams now travel to Sydney for the decider.
Meninga, Queensland’s greatest ever coach, spoke of the influence Munster had on the contest.
“Munster was man of the match in my opinion,” Meninga said on SEN 1170 Afternoons.
“He was outstanding.
“The way he went about his captaincy and the way he played, it actually brought the best out of him.
“The game was won on pure spirit and that's what Origin's all about.
“When you talk about effort and desire, you've got to give all tick marks to Queensland, but New South Wales is such a dangerous footy side, so Game III is gonna be enormous.
“That's what belief does in players, you know… We're under pressure, backs to the wall, you know… we have to win in Perth. We haven't won in Perth before.
“They played with great composure.”
Slater celebrated his 42nd birthday with yesterday’s Game II win and speaking after the match, Munster said the players were inspired to defend their coach after the intense media scrutiny he’d been under the past week.
“At the end of the day, he’s our coach and he’s done everything he can and ticked the boxes for us,” Munster said.
“We didn’t perform for him in game one and he got a lot of slack for it, and a lot of stuff in the media that he didn’t deserve.
"When you have someone jabbing at him like that, it really hurts. It hurt me personally. I don’t ever tell him that, but I’m probably telling him now.
"I love him, and I just want to do the best thing for Queensland and the best thing for him, because he’s not doing this for him.
"He’s doing it for Queensland, and he loves Queensland and that’s a reason why he’s so passionate.
“When you have someone like that at the helm, you just want to play for him. At the end of the day, I just love playing for Queensland and he’s the reason why I want to play.”
