Frantic is out, mellow is in for main man Munster
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Cameron Munster intends to have a "mellow" mindset in the preliminary final on Friday night as he warned the Raiders were capable of creating history by becoming the first team in the NRL era to win the title from outside the top four.
Canberra won their last three regular-season games to finish fifth and have stretched the streak to five by downing the Sharks and Roosters in their opening finals.
Munster can see similarities between the Raiders and 2016 AFL champions Western Bulldogs, who came from seventh to win four finals on the bounce and take the premiership.
The Storm No.6 said finishing in the top two "doesn’t mean you are going to win the premiership".
"Finals footy is a different beast. You can be in the top eight and speed-bumping through the comp and then put six weeks of great footy together and win the comp," he said.
Get Caught Up: Finals Week 2
"Western Bulldogs are a great example of that in the AFL. Anyone can win the comp."
Munster has been diligent with his rehab on the knee he re-injured in the 36-24 qualifying final win over the Eels and is back on the training paddock and a certain starter on Friday night.
He has taken a leaf out of the Cameron Smith book on professionalism to "make sure [the knee] is 100 per cent".
Against the Eels in the first half Munster was frenetic and said he became "frustrated" with his play as several passes hit the deck.
Match: Storm v Raiders
Finals Week 3 -
home Team
Storm
2nd Position
away Team
Raiders
3rd Position
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
In the second half he played with a cool head to create two tries and make a sizzling line break.
Munster intends to be his jack-in-a-box self and ask questions of the Raiders defence all night at Suncorp Stadium, but the 26-year-old is determined to have a calm head space.
"I just want to take a deep breath and relax. When I am relaxed the team relaxes and that shows where I make the right decision nine times out of 10," Munster said.
"If I can do that for the team it mellows everyone out around me. I need to stay mellow.
"When I start getting frantic then everyone else gets frantic so I need to make sure this week I keep it nice and calm for everyone."
The Storm have been below their best in the past two finals series. Their grand final loss to the Roosters in 2018 and preliminary final defeat at the hands of Trent Robinson’s men last year taught Munster valuable lessons.
He was guilty of losing his cool in the 2018 grand final and was sin-binned twice in the 21-6 loss.
Last year the Storm went behind 2-0 in the opening minute of the preliminary final after conceding a penalty when they had the ball.
"We can’t be getting too emotional and hyped up in the game," Munster said.
"When the Roosters kicked off in that game last year we gave them a penalty straight away with Nelson [Asofa-Solomona] having a bit of an argument with Siosiua Taukeiaho. That is not ideal for us.
Then there were four …
"We just need to make sure we start well, don’t get involved in any niggle and all play well.
"Last year we looked flat in the first 15 or 20 minutes and that is where we lost that game against the Roosters. We can’t afford to do that.
“We did that against the Eels and they were 12-0 up so we need to make sure we start fast."
