It has been revealed Cameron Munster took less than ten minutes to tell coach Billy Slater he was playing the deciding match of the 2025 State of Origin series after the tragic passing of his father.
Munster left camp after the news broke to be with his family before returning on Wednesday to captain the Maroons to victory on the road.
The five-eighth turned in one of his best performances too, kicking for 500 metres and looking a threat with the ball in hand.
The champion five-eighth said it was an 'easy' decision to decide he was playing.
"I rang Bill straight away. Usually when me and Bill talk we are serious on the field and stuff, but off the field there is no better balanced person than Bill," Munster said during the post-match press conference.
"When I found out, I tried to call him. When I told him, he dropped everything and came to my room. Bill spoke about it but he lost his old man in January.
"I know his old man, he was a tough man, a very humble man. A bit like my dad. He had a big heart, had a lot of trust with a lot of people and sometimes that got him in trouble and sometimes that got me in trouble too.
"But I knew straight away when I heard that my dad would tell me there was more at stake. When you look at it, I was in camp the whole week, it would have been a tough job for Bill and the coaching staff to put someone in and understand how we want to play.
"It was an easy decision for me. Queensland is everything to me. I love the Maroon. To be able to captain this team and send out Pappy [Josh Papalii] as a winner is something I will hold dearly to my heart for the rest of my life."
The star said the 2025 series, the way his teammates got around him, and the decider, will be something he remembers and talks about for the rest of his life.
"It's hard. I had a moment there with Bill. I had a moment with him on Sunday. Regardless of being the coach, he gave me an opportunity to go home first. Family first. I'm forever grateful for that. I was leaning towards not doing it because I didn't want to let Queensland down, but Bill told me I needed to go home and I'm so grateful that he made me go home," Munster said.
"It's not ideal preparation wise, but the way the team got up for me and I'll be sitting there when I'm 80 remembering 2025. It sounds silly, but talk about the Neville Nobody's of 1995, no one in the journo world gave us a chance and it'll be interesting to see what you're going to say tomorrow, so really excited for it."
Slater revealed that when he was told the news on Sunday he went straight to Munster's room to be with his star five-eighth.
"I don't like ranking things, but I've never felt like this. I know we are going to talk about it, but the bloke to my left [Cameron Munster], that's as corageous and brave as I've ever seen," Slater said.
"I lost my dad in January. I know what it's like. I know how it feels. Our dads are our heroes and I don't know how he did it, but within ten minutes of sitting with him in his room on Sunday morning, he looked at me and said 'Bill, I'm playing' and I know he wanted to, I know his dad would have wanted him to, and boy that's one proud dad sitting up there watching him play tonight."
Slater said that on the whole, it was the proudest he has been of his side since taking charge.
"I'm so proud of this group. I've been proud of this group a number of times over the last four years, and I don't know if I've been any more proud than tonight. There have been a lot of hurdles to overcome, it's an incredible feeling and I'm sure five and a half million people feel the same," Slater said.
