An unexpected reshuffle of the spine proved a successful move for the Storm, but it may not have happened had Cameron Munster not requested a position switch.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy named a familiar starting line-up on Tuesday, which had Nick Meaney set to don the No.1 jumper while Munster linked up with Tyran Wishart in the halves.
Yet on Friday evening a different formation took to the field as Munster returned to his roots to battle the Panthers in the role of fullback.
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Munster’s move then saw Meaney revert back to the centres while Jonah Pezet started at five-eighth and Joe Chan was shifted to the bench.
The reason for the movement was unclear at first but Nine’s Billy Slater later revealed Munster wanted to be the starting fullback against Penrith.
Cameron Munster of the Melbourne Storm runs the ball. NRL Imagery
Munster did not shy away when asked about the move post-match and admitted he was in search of an opportunity to rediscover his confidence on the field.
“I just felt like it freed me up a little bit,” Munster told Nine.
“At the moment, I just feel like I need to get back into playing some confident footy.
“I feel like I can roam on both sides. Sometimes I just pigeonhole myself on the left and I don’t get around to the right (side of the field). I’m just trying to play fullback a little bit more.
“Obviously, when Paps (Ryan Papenhuyzen) comes back I have to have a bit more of a dynamic game. But for me (at fullback), I felt I could go left and right and dictate play.
“It worked a little bit tonight but I could be so much better.”
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The Queensland Maroons skipper went on to reveal the club did not have access to the same level of depth on the edges as they did in the halves to fill the void of injured stars.
“I just felt we didn’t need to push too many people out of position,” he continued.
“We had Nick Meaney, he has been playing some really good footy at fullback but we didn’t have enough outside backs or centres to fill the void.
“We have some great depth in the halves so it was easy for me to go back there and be more of a running threat, that is my strength.
“We had Pezet on the bench and he was ready to play, so we just put him into halfback and Wishy (Wishart) at five-eighth.”
Munster impressed at the back, recording 171 run metres over 81 minutes.
The victory was not the easiest of tasks for the visiting team as Harry Grant found the match-winning points in the 81st minute to seal the result at 22-18.
Munster made sure to clarify that the Storm are much better than the display they produced at CommBank Stadium.
“The boys worked really hard so I am very happy with the win,” Grant told Nine.
“We were working hard for each other but not very smartly (in the first half). We were playing dumb footy … when you play teams like Penrith, they are very tight and good defensively.
“We had to make sure we got into our lanes and created some space. It happened at times but we could be so much better.”
