The first time Cameron Murray heard about being elevated to Australian vice-captain was when the team was named at a press conference on Monday.
“It was a bit of a surprise to be honest, I wasn’t expecting it, and I didn’t know until the team was named – there were no real conversations about it,” Murray said.
“It’s special and a nice little nod to what we all achieved at South Sydney. Everyone knows rep honours come off the back of how well your club team is performing.
“I’m really looking forward to playing with the best players in the comp and learning as much as I can.
“I want to get better as a player and as a leader.”
Murray and Penrith’s Isaah Yeo were named as James Tedesco’s deputies for the World Cup.
South Sydney skipper and new Kangaroos deputy Cameron Murray.Credit:Getty Images
And should Murray get the chance to captain Australia at any stage during the pool games, he will become the first South Sydney player to lead his country since Bob McCarthy in 1973. McCarthy was Graeme Langlands’ deputy on a 1973 Kangaroos tour but led them out on one occasion.
Greg Inglis was named Australian captain in 2018, but a drink-driving offence forced him to miss a series in New Zealand and he never captained his country.
At just 24, it will only be a matter of when – not if – Murray captains Australia, especially with Tedesco aged 29 and 27-year-old Yeo who often jokes about looking 47.
It was a shame Sydney’s rain forced the Kangaroos’ only training session away from Mascot Oval on Thursday because that it was the venue Murray grew up playing the game. His fondest Mascot memories were hanging around long after he had played and “running around in dirty socks with a can of Solo and hot chips”.
Murray enjoyed his first year as captain for Souths, and the preliminary-final finish under new coach Jason Demetriou in the post-Wayne Bennett era silenced a lot of critics, said the skipper.
“I was proud of the year we had, especially from where we came from with that low point in Wollongong against the Dragons,” Murray said.
“I was proud of how we blocked out a lot of noise around Wayne leaving, and a few prominent leaders in our team leaving. We had a new coach, I was coming into captaincy for the first year … I was proud we came together as a group and stick tight during the good times and tough times.”
Murray’s only Test ended in a shock loss to Tonga at the end of 2019. It also featured Latrell Mitchell who joined Souths not long after that forgettable game at Eden Park.
“That game is not one I like to remember,” Murray said.
Cameron Murray training in 2019 before his only previous Test.Credit:Getty Images
“It was only the second time I had played with Latrell. I got a taste of what it was like to be his teammate, but to grow with him the last few years has been special.
“Latrell is a lot better person and player and in a much happier and content place than the last time he donned the Australian jersey.”
Despite being a schoolboy rugby prodigy, Murray had only been to England once, when he was 14 on a family holiday and “was that ungrateful kid who complained about the weather the whole time”.
Daly Cherry-Evans was in line to captain Australia and while he would have loved the honour he said he appreciated Tedesco would be a definite starter each week, while Yeo and Murray “will be around for a long time”.
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