Cameron Munster in devastating injury update after Andrew Johns goes off early again

The Melbourne Storm have revealed Cameron Munster tore the adductor tendon at the top of his leg and will miss the entire State of Origin series in 2024. Munster has struggled with groin pain this year but looked to have put it behind him in recent weeks.

However he was left writhing in agony during the second half of the Storm's clash with Parramatta on Sunday at Suncorp Stadium and appeared to have aggravated the injury. In commentary for Channel 9, Andrew Johns immediately speculated that Munster had 'ruptured' his groin, sparking fears that the five-eighth had suffered a season-ending injury.

But Johns was slightly off the mark and Munster's injury turned out to be something different. To his credit, Johns backtracked and said Munster wouldn't be walking off the field if he'd suffered a rupture or tear in his groin, but the NRL legend's penchant for diagnosing injuries without any information once again drew the ire of fans.

Johns did a similar thing with Kalyn Ponga earlier this year, speculating that he'd injured his hip flexor when it was actually his hip pointer. Brien Seeney, who runs the 'NRL Physio' account, told Yahoo Sport Australia that commentators need to have the correct information at hand before trying to diagnose injuries.

"Injuries are such an influential part of footy, so the commentators obviously have to address them," Seeney said in April. "But I think it’s clear that fans are really interested in accurate and easy to understand information surrounding injuries. Ex-players on commentary will have their own personal experiences when it comes to injuries, but it’s an area where educating themselves a bit more would improve the fan and viewer experience for sure."

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Cameron Munster to miss two months with latest injury

Nevertheless, Munster's injury is still severe enough to rule him out for at least two months and the entire State of Origin series. The Storm have opted against booking Munster in for surgery, which could have ended his season, but revealed a lengthy injury lay-off is still on the cards after the results of scans came back on Monday afternoon.

"While it is obviously disappointing for both Cameron and the club to be missing football at this stage of the season, we are confident this approach will give him the best chance of recovery in the long term," said Storm football boss Frank Ponissi. Storm coach Craig Bellamy said after the Eels game: "He’s been carrying it for a bit and it’s not good for us. He loves playing Origin but he also loves playing for the Storm as well and he knows he is one of our leaders now.”

Who will replace Cameron Munster in State of Origin?

Bellamy said surgery would mean Munster would most likely miss the remainder of the season. “I think if he has it now, I think, I’m not 100 per cent here, but if he has an operation now he won’t play for the rest of the year if it’s the operation they think he needs,” the coach added. "He missed the first four or five games with it, but as I said we will look at the scans tomorrow and there will be a plan and if he’s capable of playing towards the end of the season we might go that way."

Tom Dearden is seemingly the front-runner to replace Munster at five-eighth for the Maroons. Billy Slater also has Ben Hunt, Ezra Mam and Sam Walker as options.

"I’ve never stopped anyone from playing Origin that wanted to play, just for the sake of the club," Bellamy said in regards to whether Munster might opt to skip Origin this year. “And that will be a decision for Cameron to make when we find out what the damage is.”