Queensland coach Billy Slater has admitted he feared Cameron Munster would miss Origin II last week as the Storm star battled pre-game sickness.
Munster missed the Storm’s 24-6 win over Manly on Saturday due to an undisclosed illness after playing a key role in the Maroons’ series-clinching victory on Wednesday night.
While Munster’s club captain Christian Welch joked that the Origin star had come down with a case of “Caxton-itis” after the Maroons’ party at the famous Caxton Hotel in Brisbane, Slater revealed the severity of the situation Queensland faced during the week.
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“There was a moment just before warm-ups where we were quite concerned. He was going downhill pretty quick,” he told Nine’s NRL Sunday Footy Show.
“He wasn’t all that crook last year when he had COVID, but he wasn’t allowed to play, so I didn’t know how crook he was going to have to be to keep him out.
“When I spoke to him he said he was never going to miss the game, but he certainly wasn’t feeling 100 per cent.
“He did a great job to go out there and not only just be out there and contribute, but played a leading role for us.”
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Munster wasn’t the only man in the Queensland camp to be struck down with illness either, with Maroons great and current assistant Johnathan Thurston also sick.
“He didn’t even make it to the Caxton,” Slater said of Thurston.
“He wasn’t feeling well at all. He went back to the hotel and hopefully JT is feeling a bit better now.”
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