SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JULY 10: Cameron Murray of the Blues makes a break during game three of the 2019 State of Origin series between the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons at ANZ Stadium on July 10, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
It was a lifetime ago for the average rugby league fan, however, Tonga’s 2019 shock defeat of the Kangaroos is still burned inside Cameron Murray’s mind.
The script wasn’t meant to read a 16-12 victory in favour of Tonga, yet the Pacific nation managed to pull off one of rugby league’s all-time upsets and knock Australia off their perch at the top.
It was a bigger game for some than others. It doesn’t just eat at Murray because it was his last game for the Kangaroos, it eats at him because it was his only game in the green and gold.
The South Sydney skipper, who will vice-captain Australia at the tournament, played just 26 minutes off the bench in his maiden test match, and is one of eight players from that match to be named in Mal Meninga’s 24-man squad for the World Cup.
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND – OCTOBER 20: Andrew Fifita of Tonga leads the Sipi Tau during the International Test match between Tonga and Australia at Mount Smart Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)
You only have to hear the superstar lock discuss that match against Tonga to realise there’s a deep drive to right his wrongs.
“It just adds a little bit of motivation for me to be able to correct what we did wrong back then, to make it right,” Murray told The Daily Telegraph.
“I guess when you get picked in the squad you fulfil a little childhood dream. I played a game for Australia and it wasn’t the best game.
“There were a lot of things I left that camp with and wanted to achieve. I used that as a little bit of extra motivation to want to get back here.”
Due to a large portion of the squad going weeks without football, with seven of the 24 men hailing from bottom eight sides, Meninga will rotate the squad throughout the pool phases and potentially the finals.
While players like Daly Cherry-Evans and Ben Hunt’s only football in the month was the Prime Minister’s XIII match, others like Reagan Campbell-Gillard haven’t had a football-less weekend since the midseason rep round.
GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA – JULY 18: Cameron Murray of the Rabbitohs during the round 18 NRL match between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Canterbury Bulldogs at Cbus Super Stadium, on July 18, 2021, in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images, Image supplied by Kayo)
While it opens the door for new combinations and much-needed rest, it could hand Murray the privilege of captaining his country if James Tedesco and Isaah Yeo are rested for the same game.
“I wasn’t really expecting it but it is a nice recognition for not only myself but what we were all able to achieve at the club this year,” Murray said.
“Everyone knows rep honours and that stuff comes off the back of form at clubland.
“It is a proud moment for me being picked in this squad and it is pretty nice to have v-c next to me too. I won’t speculate on whether I am going to skipper the team, or not. I have to earn the right to be in that side.”
Revenge isn’t the driving factor for Murray, it’s correcting his own wrongs.
He’s not someone that likes to lose, and you can be sure that the lock forward will be using that 2019 debut as a motivator ahead of his maiden World Cup.
Source:: ZeroTackle
