alternating Billy and Cam
Just a thought with Billy getting older and breaking down a lot and with Cam being an amazing young talent what about alternating them at FB next year. Billy one week. Cam the next.
It allows Billy weeks of throughout the season and allows for Cam to play FB on a consistent basis. He is just so damn good.
It's something different but might be worth considering.
It allows Billy weeks of throughout the season and allows for Cam to play FB on a consistent basis. He is just so damn good.
It's something different but might be worth considering.
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David Storm
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Another rotation option would be to rotate Billy Slater and Cameron Munster between fullback and centre playing both players in the regular NRL team at the same time. This way both can play some time at fullback.
Cheers.
Cheers.
I think it is twofold.
First I don't think Billy is going to go close to playing 24 games so the idea of resting him during the season is a good idea.
And with Cam. He might make a great centre but he is just such an awesome talent at FB.
It might be the best thing for the team. It is different but sometimes it is worth trying new things.
First I don't think Billy is going to go close to playing 24 games so the idea of resting him during the season is a good idea.
And with Cam. He might make a great centre but he is just such an awesome talent at FB.
It might be the best thing for the team. It is different but sometimes it is worth trying new things.
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Danger D
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Interesting Fairfax media article from Roy Masters about Cam Munster
Melbourne Storm fullback Cameron Munster is the happiest player in the NRL
September 23, 2015 - 7:00PM
Roy Masters
If the late American social critic, Christopher Lasch, had wandered into the Storm's kitchen at AAMI stadium and witnessed 21-year-old fullback Cameron Munster eating Weet-Bix, he may have reviewed his opinion of the modern, professional footballer.
Lasch was the first to describe the full-time athlete as a new class of worker produced by the "information age", an entertainer in the same way song writers and sound technicians sell their skills for money.
He warned of the dangers of this in 1994, writing, "commercialised play has turned into work, subordinating the athlete's pleasure to the spectators ..."
But Munster has turned on its head the new paradigm of footballers' play being work and their club bosses work being play.
"He just loves the game," says Storm development chief, Greg Brentnall, himself a former champion fullback with Canterbury as he observed Munster eating breakfast on his day off in the Melbourne Storm kitchen last week, eagerly chatting about the weekend games.
"It's so refreshing to see. With the systems we have in place to train young blokes for first grade, we are not encouraging the joy of the game.
"We regiment them too early. We plan training sessions for 16-year-olds.
"No-one comes early to training. In the days before full-time training, we used to get to the ground and have a kick around with the footy.
"We'd come an hour early and practise kicking, such as banana kicks.
"This kid, Munster, is a whole different ball game."
He's not only a throwback in the sense the game is still fun but Munster is also naturally strong, in the sense he is not weight-room strong."
Compared to some of today's monsters, he's as skinny as an airmail letter, or six o'clock in the days before we read the time digitally.
Three tacklers struggle to put him down, with him often remaining on his feet until the referee calls 'held.'
He also makes his metres by runs from dummy half and close to the dangerous ruck, unlike the man he replaced, the injured Billy Slater, whose brilliant acceleration is best employed out wide.
Former players complain that today's footballers don't practise the skills that were often developed in the games before the coach arrived with the witch's hats – the flick pass, running into a gap, pointing to defenders to number up.
Yet you get the impression Munster would play them all day if only he could assemble a platoon of street kids who weren't already playing computer games.
The Storm's senior players keep him grounded, particularly with history.
Given the fact this old columnist retired as a coach seven years before Munster was born, he did not associate me with anything when halfback Cooper Cronk introduced us some time ago.
"Have you heard of the Fibros versus Silvertails?" Cronk asked.
Munster admitted he had heard the term "silvertail."
"Go and study up on it," Cronk commanded.
"That's your homework for tonight."
Sure, he's had his bad days since he replaced Slater.
Against Newcastle, the future almost kicked him in the face when he made some bad defensive reads on the left hand side of the field.
But, unlike most Generation Y kids, he can take a tongue lashing from the coach. Storm boss Craig Bellamy rebuked him savagely in front of the team after a trial match in Griffith and Munster accepted the criticism and corrected his errors in subsequent games.
One reason this young fullback is a throwback is that he did not come to an NRL club via the standard route where players are recruited into club systems at an early age.
He went straight from school in Rockhampton to the local first grade team, the Comets, meaning he was forced to mature quickly in the presence of older men.
When Munster turned up to AAMI stadium at breakfast time on a day off recently, no-one was surprised.
He had already studied the film of his own contribution to the win over the Roosters and asked Bellamy when they could put forward his personal review.
"No mate, "Bellamy said. "Tomorrow is soon enough.
"Enjoy the day off."
To this young fullback, a day off is a setback - he is a player who is putting the fun back into fundamentals.
Melbourne Storm fullback Cameron Munster is the happiest player in the NRL
September 23, 2015 - 7:00PM
Roy Masters
If the late American social critic, Christopher Lasch, had wandered into the Storm's kitchen at AAMI stadium and witnessed 21-year-old fullback Cameron Munster eating Weet-Bix, he may have reviewed his opinion of the modern, professional footballer.
Lasch was the first to describe the full-time athlete as a new class of worker produced by the "information age", an entertainer in the same way song writers and sound technicians sell their skills for money.
He warned of the dangers of this in 1994, writing, "commercialised play has turned into work, subordinating the athlete's pleasure to the spectators ..."
But Munster has turned on its head the new paradigm of footballers' play being work and their club bosses work being play.
"He just loves the game," says Storm development chief, Greg Brentnall, himself a former champion fullback with Canterbury as he observed Munster eating breakfast on his day off in the Melbourne Storm kitchen last week, eagerly chatting about the weekend games.
"It's so refreshing to see. With the systems we have in place to train young blokes for first grade, we are not encouraging the joy of the game.
"We regiment them too early. We plan training sessions for 16-year-olds.
"No-one comes early to training. In the days before full-time training, we used to get to the ground and have a kick around with the footy.
"We'd come an hour early and practise kicking, such as banana kicks.
"This kid, Munster, is a whole different ball game."
He's not only a throwback in the sense the game is still fun but Munster is also naturally strong, in the sense he is not weight-room strong."
Compared to some of today's monsters, he's as skinny as an airmail letter, or six o'clock in the days before we read the time digitally.
Three tacklers struggle to put him down, with him often remaining on his feet until the referee calls 'held.'
He also makes his metres by runs from dummy half and close to the dangerous ruck, unlike the man he replaced, the injured Billy Slater, whose brilliant acceleration is best employed out wide.
Former players complain that today's footballers don't practise the skills that were often developed in the games before the coach arrived with the witch's hats – the flick pass, running into a gap, pointing to defenders to number up.
Yet you get the impression Munster would play them all day if only he could assemble a platoon of street kids who weren't already playing computer games.
The Storm's senior players keep him grounded, particularly with history.
Given the fact this old columnist retired as a coach seven years before Munster was born, he did not associate me with anything when halfback Cooper Cronk introduced us some time ago.
"Have you heard of the Fibros versus Silvertails?" Cronk asked.
Munster admitted he had heard the term "silvertail."
"Go and study up on it," Cronk commanded.
"That's your homework for tonight."
Sure, he's had his bad days since he replaced Slater.
Against Newcastle, the future almost kicked him in the face when he made some bad defensive reads on the left hand side of the field.
But, unlike most Generation Y kids, he can take a tongue lashing from the coach. Storm boss Craig Bellamy rebuked him savagely in front of the team after a trial match in Griffith and Munster accepted the criticism and corrected his errors in subsequent games.
One reason this young fullback is a throwback is that he did not come to an NRL club via the standard route where players are recruited into club systems at an early age.
He went straight from school in Rockhampton to the local first grade team, the Comets, meaning he was forced to mature quickly in the presence of older men.
When Munster turned up to AAMI stadium at breakfast time on a day off recently, no-one was surprised.
He had already studied the film of his own contribution to the win over the Roosters and asked Bellamy when they could put forward his personal review.
"No mate, "Bellamy said. "Tomorrow is soon enough.
"Enjoy the day off."
To this young fullback, a day off is a setback - he is a player who is putting the fun back into fundamentals.