Cameron Munster is setting his sights on reclaiming his Queensland State of Origin jersey to "get the wood" on Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy, who sought permission from his Storm stars before taking a role with NSW.
Munster underwent two rounds of hip surgery after Melbourne's NRL grand-final loss to Penrith with the damage much worse than originally thought.
While hoping to push the schedule, he isn't due to start running until February but believes he will be available for round one against Parramatta on March 9.
"I feel really young, the surgery went well," the 30-year-old said at Storm headquarters on Friday.
"I had a bone spur on my left side ... and I had a little labrum tear on that side as well and my right side was completely stuffed with a couple of big labrum tears.
"So no groin pain, which is nice - I'm really optimistic to go back and hopefully be on the paddock a lot more than I was this year."
Munster missed the entire 2024 Origin series, with North Queensland's Tom Dearden starring in his absence for the Maroons and also the Kangaroos in the Pacific Championships.
"It's always good to play for your state and country and I've had Tommy Dearden this year take over the reins and god he played some good footy.
"There's some great competition and that's what brings the best out in you.
"I've got to get fitter and now that I've got Tommy breathing down my neck, it's good for the game, good for Queensland when you've got guys like that wanting to push for positions."
With Laurie Daley taking over at the Blues' helm, Bellamy will join the NSW set-up in an advisory role but Munster revealed the master coach consulted with the Storm's Origin players, all Queenslanders, before taking the job.
"He rang me and asked if it was alright, so I'm pretty much his dad," Munster said.
"It's an awesome opportunity for him and I know it's probably frustrating for some of the players in our team to go up against him in Origin but he's Storm first.
"He'll make sure we get everything right first before he goes away to camp and he might learn some stuff ... and could end up bringing something back for us.
"Hopefully we will get the wood over him because I'd love to."
As well as the lure of representative football, Munster said he would be driven by the prospect of another NRL premiership after again being outplayed by Penrith in the grand final.
"I just want to be better than I was last year ... I know that I've only got certain amount of years left to play footy so I want to get the best out of it," he said.
"I wish I probably had that mindset five years ago but now looking at it, I've had some good final runs but I haven't had that cherry on top since 2020.
"So that's something that's probably a driving factor - we all want to win but how hard are we willing to work to win - that's just something that I've really been thinking about.
"Putting myself in uncomfortable positions and trying to work a little bit harder than in previous years and try to get a lot fitter so if I can do that it's going to be easier for the team."
