Storm superstar Cameron Munster has revealed “animosity” in comments made by Wayne Bennett is why he didn’t call the legendary coach to inform him of his decision to reject the Dolphins.
That is despite the 28-year-old admitting in October that “there’s no excuses” and he “should have given him (Bennett) a call.”
Meanwhile, Storm prop Christian Welch has jumped to the defence of his teammate — and hit out at Bennett — after Munster’s handling of negotiations was once again criticised.
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“It’s pretty ordinary stuff… That is a tough phone call, it’s a phone call none of us want to make but you want to be a man, you have got to behave like one,” Bennett said on Rush Hour with Leisel Jones, Liam and Dobbo.
Munster initially regretted not calling Bennett before the news broke, admitting to Channel 9 in October he “should have given him a call.”
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“It’s disappointing,” Munster said after touching down in the UK for the World Cup.
“I have a really good relationship with Wayne, and I don’t know if I’ve made it any worse… there’s no excuses, I should have given him a call.
“I definitely will give him a call. I think that’s the respectful thing to do.”
But it seems the Kangaroos playmaker never made that phone call — and has since backflipped on that stance in an interview with Channel 7 on Saturday.
“I felt like it was pretty disappointing (Bennett’s comments) and (there) probably was a little bit of animosity towards it so that’s one of the reasons why I haven’t decided to ring him,” Munster said.
“I just didn’t like the way they went about it and probably threw my name in the media — it was pretty disrespected — and saying I wasn’t man enough to ring him.
“I had every intention to but after those comments we felt like it was in our best interest to just leave it alone.”
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Fox Sports journalist Sam Squiers was critical of Munster following the interview, tweeting that she “still can’t believe Munster didn’t call Wayne before it was announced, it was the respectable thing to do.”
But Welch was quick to turn the blowtorch onto Bennett for beginning his pursuit of Munster before he became a free agent.
“If we’re talking about admirable and respect, the approach pre Nov 1 didn’t show much of either. It’s a two-way street… I’d say not a lot shown to the Storm or NRL contracting rules to start,” Welch tweeted.
