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Cameron Smith: The referee whisperer

19th May, 2016
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Cam Smith usually gets away with it, but backchat to the refs got him pinged on the weekend. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Colin Whelan)
Expert
19th May, 2016
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There are two types of rugby league people. There are those who love Cam Smith and think it is a mere formality that he’ll be made an immortal, and those who despise him and believe he is one of the games vilest grubs.

Over the last two weeks there have been two incidents that have led people to claim that Smith gets more than a fair run with the referees; that there is one rule for Cam Smith and another rule for everybody else.

On Anzac Day footage clearly showed Cam Smith touching referee Matt Cecchin. However, he was neither charged or suspended, although Panther Sam McKendry was suspended for handling Jared Maxwell in a very similar fashion just the week before.

Last weekend Johnathan Thurston went to take a field goal attempt that would have levelled the scores in the 75th minute. However, Smith was able to stop him taking the shot. The vision showed that Smith was massively offside out of second marker. It should have been a penalty to the Cows straight in front.

But these incidents don’t necessarily suggest that Smith is the officials golden boy, and they certainly aren’t worthy of earning a player a reputation as a grub.

There have been a number of really bad incidents that Cam Smith has been at the forefront of over the years that have meant that many people hold him in very low esteem. These are:
• The grapple tackle and chicken wing;
• The salary cap scandal; and
• The horrific injury to Alex McKinnon.

In each one of these incidents there has been a devastating consequence. The horror of Alex McKinnon’s injury, and the subsequent fall out, would have taken its toll on Smith (although that is totally dwarfed by the toll on McKinnon and his family). The vision of Smith – who couldn’t have imagined the extent of the injury – arguing against a penalty near the prone body of McKinnon didn’t go down well with lots of people.

The salary cap scandal saw Smith and his club in total disgrace, destroying most of their achievements. The revelation that he had signed two contracts meant that he had to have known that the Storm as an organisation was cheating.

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The wrestling moves that the Storm pioneered to slow their opponents play has been roundly criticised as not being in the spirit of the game. Smith’s grapple tackle on Sam Thaiday in the 2008 finals cost him a spot in the grand final. His side lost 40-0, the biggest defeat in a decider ever.

It was this defeat that meant that many, like me, really started to understand just exactly how essential Smith was to the fate of the Storm side. That season, with Smith at the helm, the Storm had beaten the Sea Eagles home and away by a combined score of 42-14. But without him in the decider they were massacred.

Why is he so vital?

Craig Bellamy took over the Storm from Mark Murray and from his first game in charge the 19-year-old Cam Smith was his hooker – and he has been ever since. While there have been many great players at the Storm over the past 14 seasons, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and especially Smith have been the backbone of the success.

They are the three key players that make ‘Bellamy ball’ work.

Bellamy ball is very simple but, when executed properly, it is incredibly effective.

Step one is based on uncompromising forward play that grinds out metres and makes virtually no errors. This season the Storm are the second best for errors a game with just 3.8. In 2015 they were only seven errors for the year from being the best. As well, this season – like many before it – the Storm are the number one metre gaining side in the NRL.

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Step two is to kick for good field position and pressure the opposition into error.

Step three is once you have the ball in an attacking position to give it to a player with freakish attacking skills to score.

Step three is Slater, step two is Cronk and step one is the domain of Smith.

Smith is discipline personified. The Storm pack make so many metres because Smith keeps them focused and motivated. They make so few errors because they focus on ball security, only offload when attacking and they get superb service from dummy half from Cam Smith.

The primary job of a hooker is to pick the ball up cleanly from behind the man playing the ball and to pass it precisely onto the chest of the first receiver. This minimises dropped balls and maximises players going over the advantage line. Cam Smith is without peer for this skill. The other essential skill for a hooker is to ensure the defence in the centre of the field is strong.

Ideally, the hooker makes a lot of tackles, misses very few and tries to slow down the oppositions ruck speed. There are none better at this than Smith. And he makes sure his pack stick to this plan as well.

After the round four loss to the Sharks this year, Bellamy said it was the first time in his 14 seasons that his side had been beaten up the middle of the park. They haven’t been since.

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The Storm’s defence is superb. This year and last they have easily missed the fewest tackles. Since 2004 they have always had lower than the average line breaks and tries conceded.

Cam Smith is the heart and soul of this. At almost 33 he is only missing 1.8 tackles a game, which is better than all but four of the NRL’s regular hookers.

He certainly leads by example but he’s also the best leader in the NRL. As shown by the grand final defeat in 2008, this is very noticeable when he is absent. Smith has missed just 12 games since the start of the 2011 season. The Storm, who have won 67 per cent of their games during that period, only won 25 per cent of the games in which he was missing. In 50 per cent of those 12 games Cronk was playing. Slater played in four of them. The message from this is that Cam Smith is the essential ingredient in the success of Bellamy Ball.

However, it is not just because he is skillful and has great control of his team, he also knows how to influence the officials. This does not mean he doesn’t get penalised personally. He does. While this season he is ranked eighth for penalties conceded, last season he gave away more than everyone except Ryan James. In 2014 he ranked eighth. So the whistle blowers do ping him.

Further, over the last four seasons his side has conceded bang on the average penalties and they have received slightly less than the average. These stats show that, while the Storm aren’t suffering at the hands of the whistle blowers, they don’t really get a golden run with the refs either.

However, Smith get his way when it counts.

My view is that he often has the referees in his pocket. While he may personally get penalised a lot, he gets away with crucial things at crucial times and he is able to influence the referees to see things his way. He is able to reason with them, to help them understand that the true path of enlightenment is dressed in purple and standing before them.

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On Saturday night just past his side were getting pounded in the first 20 minutes. Down 8-0 and being hammered in the penalties, Smith – probably also trying to slow the play down – approached Gerard Sutton and had words with him about the state of the game.

He didn’t swear or get emotive like a Paul Gallen or James Graham might. He didn’t accuse the referees of being unfair like Jake Friend or Johnathan Thurston sometimes does. And he wasn’t easily waved away or dismissed like a Jarrod Croker, Shaun Johnson or Jason Nightingale often are. He spoke his piece. He was listened to.

Shortly after his chat the Storm received soft piggy back penalties which culminated in Tohu Harris scoring. Bellamy’s boys were back in the game.

The fact that Smith speaks so well and calmly, crafting good and seemingly reasonable positions on the spot, is a huge part of his success as captain.

However, he was also talking to a referee who only started in first grade in 2009. By that point Smith had won grand finals, Dally Ms, multiple State of Origin series and was a permanent fixture in the Australian team. To Sutton, Smith has always been a behemoth of the game, especially back when he first got the top grade gig and was just praying that he wouldn’t stuff it up.

Then along comes the charismatic Cam Smith and he just wants to reason with him. “What a decent guy Cam is. Not like those boofheads who try and intimidate me with their physical stature,” he might have thought. It’s an easy step from there to being influenced.

Now consider this. Of all the referees currently running first grade games only Matt Cecchin pre dates Cam Smith in the game. Smith was already a superstar before 90 per cent of them made the top flight. It isn’t surprising they often seem to be putty in his hands.

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I believe that rugby league is full of realities like the following.

Sides can give away five penalties in two minutes cynically defending their line – as the Sharks did at the end of their match against Newcastle – and no one gets sin binned.

Lesson: do what the Sharks did.

Players can blatantly and deliberately block chasers from contesting kicks and usually don’t get penalised.

Lesson: block all kick chasers.

In the last five minutes of tight games referees will swallow their whistle for fear of making any decision that could be criticised.

Lesson: You can be offside as hell to charge down a field goal.

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Many sides are breaking the salary cap and need to if they are to be truly competitive. However, if you get caught you’ll be crucified.

Lesson: Don’t get caught.

Whether people like it or not it is a reality that Cam Smith regularly gets the referees to do his bidding. Don’t waste your time and effort waiting for the NRL and its officials to make things fair. That isn’t going to happen any time soon. Don’t waste your breath complaining about it. It will make no difference. The lesson you need to take from this is that your team needs a captain like Cam Smith.

Smart, well spoken, charismatic and a simply outstanding leader, player and influencer.

Good luck with that.

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