Wayne Bennet and the Dolphins have doubled their efforts to lure Cameron Munster from Melbourne’s far south all the way to Redcliffe, with the NRL’s seventeenth team preparing a package that would make the star Queensland five-eighth the highest-paid player in the history of the game.
Once the deal hits the table, Munster will face a $5 million decision.
The Sporting Base understands Redcliffe is looking to pay Munster, 27, around $1,300,00 million in the opening year of his Dolphins deal. That signing wouldn’t take place until the 2024 NRL season; Melbourne is simply refusing to release their prized five-eighth before the end of his ongoing deal with the club, rain, hail, or shine.
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Bennett and Redcliffe believe they can bide their time in their first season—they join the NRL as Team 17 next year—before slotting Munster into the heart of their team the first year he’s available.
From then, Munster would rake in between $1,200,000 and $1,300,000 each year.
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He would play for the Dolphins between 2024 and 2027 on a four-season agreement. Redcliffe powerbrokers believe having one of the best players in the game right now as the beating heart of their spine quartet can put them on the front foot as a premiership threat before the end of the 2020s.
The plan, The Sporting Base has heard, is to cop the pay whack that Munster would bring to the club’s salary cap and use him as leverage to get other star powers into the team in key positions while bringing up Dolphins juniors.
It would tick the “marquee” box the Dolphins have so far missed out on too.
One spanner in the works in Melbourne. The southern powerhouse has no interest in letting Munster go to a budding new rival, but their money is locked a lot tighter into their roster cap.
Ryan Papenhuyzen, Harry Grant, and Jarome Hughes are all on solid coin for the team and make up three-fourths of the spine to boot.
As reported by The Sporting Base all the way back in February, Munster has a Storm deal sitting on the table for him. The deal (an extension rather than a new contract, of course) would see him playing until the 2026 NRL season with the Melbourne outfit.
It would make him a one-club star, but his pay would drop off down to around $750,000.
Other NRL rivals are lurking in the wings too, including the Dragons.
According to sources from May, Anthony Griffin and St George Illawarra’s recruitment officers are very interested in plugging Munster into the Dragons halves alongside this year’s Dally M favourite, Ben Hunt. They would partner the Queenslander duo with a young fullback and hooker before eventually handing the reigns to Jayden Sullivan.
Of the three heavyweight bids, the Dolphins are favoured.
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It’s worth noting nothing official has been tabled yet: NRL rules decree Munster cannot talk to rivals in any major capacity until November. His agent Braith Anasta says there’s been no talks.
