Cameron Munster and wife in wonderful scenes as Melbourne Storm move on from NRL heartache
The players and their partners put on a brave face at the club's presentation night.
The Melbourne Storm attempted to put the pain of their loss in the NRL grand final behind them on Tuesday night as they celebrated their season at the club's presentation night. The Storm were the best team of the regular season and finished as minor premiers, but couldn't get the job done in the grand final against the Panthers.
Craig Bellamy and his team were understandably shattered in the aftermath, but they put on a united front with their partners at the club's awards night on Tuesday. Jahrome Hughes won the club's player of the year award after also scooping the Dally M medal last week, while Jack Howarth won the rookie of the year gong.
Captain Harry Grant was judged best forward, while William Warbrick won the best back award. The players managed to put on a brave face and showed little sign of their heartbreak, but there's no doubt it would still be lingering.
Cameron Munster and wife's appearance after early birth drama
There were wonderful scenes with Cameron Munster and wife Bianca, who have been dealing with the difficult situation of their premature birth of their baby daughter Blake. Bianca has been in hospital with Blake for the last month after she arrived a whopping seven weeks early. Bianca wasn't due until after the grand final, but gave birth before the finals series even began.
Munster revealed recently that his wife was spending all her time in hospital with Blake, who needed round the clock monitoring. “She’s (Blake) in hospital for the next 10 weeks," he said late last month. "A lot of parking (at the hospital) at the moment, hopefully can get that back on tax. She’s good, my wife had a bit of a complication and she came a little early. But that’s life and they’re both good so no problems there.”
The star five-eighth said he's taken on a bigger role at home with sons Jaxon (two) and Jagger (one) while Bianca was away. “For me I’m probably the other side. I’m sitting at home and spending time with the boys," he said.
“As much as I love going to see my daughter, it’s a bit of trek going up there and just sitting there watching her sleep. As much as I like to get up there, Bianca is probably more of the considerate one and has to go there to obviously breastfeed and do all that type of stuff as mums do. Once she comes home, I’ll be very hands on, but at the moment I’m just keeping the two boys at bay.”
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Hughes also appeared to be in a jovial mood despite an underwhelming display in the grand final. The halfback was the best player in the competition this year, but was largely unsighted in the decider against Penrith.
It has since come to light that he was dealing with serious neck and back injuries. The Kiwi reportedly picked up the injuries in the preliminary final against the Roosters, but it was kept under wraps until this week. Hughes had been picked to lead New Zealand in the Pacific Championships later this month, but has since been ruled out.
