Melbourne Storm’s minor premiership quest has received a significant boost with Cameron Munster ready to return and Ryan Papenhuyzen edging close to full fitness for the run into the finals.
Munster, who suffered an adductor tear during the Storm’s Round 11 win over Parramatta, was named on the reserves list for Friday night's match against the Eels after nine weeks on the sidelines.
The star playmaker missed the entire Origin series for Queensland, but only needs to get through one more training session to confirm his comeback at CommBank Stadium.
The Storm have managed to cope well without him and lead the Telstra Premiership ladder by four points from Penrith with seven matches remaining.
Props Christian Welch (back) and Nelson Asofa-Solomona (hamstring) have also been named to return on the interchange after missing last weekend’s match against Sydney Roosters.
In another boost for the Storm, Papenhuyzen may finally be on the road to full fitness as finals approach after weeks of having minimal training and playing through pain.
Papenhuyzen missed seven rounds after picking up an ankle injury against the Titans in Round 9 before being left out of the squad for Round 17 against the Raiders - one week after his return - due to heel pain.
The injuries followed the shattered kneecap that kept him out of the end of 2022 and most of 2023, as well as a separate ankle injury soon after his return.
“It’s another experience playing through injuries and one that you have to do at some stage in your career,” Papenhuyzen told NRL.com. “Thankfully enough, I’m able to play through.”
Pap's back!
After the Storm’s win against the Tigers two weeks ago, the fullback admitted that the heel pain that forced him to take local anaesthetic before playing was something that he would just have to tolerate.
The issue has now been isolated to the sural nerve, a nerve that runs down the back of the calf and into the lateral part of the heel.
“It’s been a bit of plantar fascia stuff going on with my foot,” Papenhuyzen explained.
“Then I’ve just had a bit of pain on the outside of my heel. I think we’ve found the nerve that supplies it now, so I’ve had some work that numbs my foot up and I can go out and play.
“That was probably the last month was trying to figure out what nerve it is, then we got down to the last two. I was starting to get a bit stressed – if it’s not the nerves, it’s just me carrying on! I’m thankful that we’ve found that now.
“It’s just about managing it through the rest of the year and hopefully keep getting picked.”
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Melbourne have only lost one of the eleven games that Papenhuyzen has been available to play this season, compared to two of the six he has watched from the stands.
It’s part of why he is an indispensable part of the team when fit.
“The last probably three weeks I haven’t trained all week, I’ve just got up for captain’s run and game day,” he recalled. “I don’t know if I’m going to be getting too used to that.”
“We’re starting to figure out what the problem is now and once we do that we can address it and do some longer-term things.”