Cameron Munster is back to bolster Melbourne’s charge towards the NRL finals, with coach Craig Bellamy confirming his gun five-eighth’s long-awaited return from injury in the clash with Parramatta.
The 29-year-old superstar has not played since suffering a serious groin injury in Magic Round in May, which also ruled him out of Queensland’s State of Origin campaign.
But Munster will play a role against the Eels at CommBank Stadium on Friday night as the Storm look to strengthen their grip on top spot.
Melbourne sit four points clear of nearest rival Penrith in the race for the minor premiership despite Munster managing just seven appearances so far this season.
Bellamy said Munster’s return would give the Storm a huge boost, with seven rounds left before the finals.
“He knows what the big games are about, so it’s just a matter of now getting ready for those,” Bellamy said on Thursday.
“Hopefully he can have an uninterrupted run into the finals.
“The whole club’s happy to have him back and with the talent he’s got and the experience he’s got, he should be a real good addition to us.
“But we just hope he can get through with his injury.
“It’s been a long one and it’s taken a lot of getting over and a lot of rehab work to get to where he is now.”
Melbourne have also named Christian Welch (back) and Nelson Asofa-Solomona (hamstring) to return after missing last week’s victory over Sydney Roosters.
Asofa-Solomona will play against the back-drop of ongoing speculation around his future, with Melbourne still in the running to sign Wests Tigers prop Stefano Utoikamanu.
“Hopefully he can play again like he was playing before last week,” Bellamy said.
“He had a couple of really good games coming off the bench and done some real damage, so we’ll be looking for him to do that again.”
Parramatta (4-13) haven’t won since May, dropping their past five games to sit second-from-bottom above Wests Tigers.
They remain without star halfback Mitch Moses following his surgery for a biceps rupture, while Maika Sivo, Junior Paulo and J’maine Hopgood’s injuries leave them without a significant portion of their salary cap.
But Bellamy has warned his players not to take a talented Eels line-up lightly.
“They’ve still got a lot of good players and they’re a big side – they’ve got a lot of big forwards there that are experienced as well,” Bellamy said.
“They’ll certainly miss Mitch Moses, without a doubt, but Dylan Brown will go about another peg.
