Cameron Smith and Billy Slater’s place in Melbourne Storm history will be set in stone with statues of the NRL greats to be erected at AAMI Park.
Victoria’s minister for sport John Eren made the announcement at the Storm’s homecoming after their 21-6 grand final loss to the Sydney Roosters in Sydney.
Slater officially retired on Sunday night after 319 games with Melbourne while skipper Smith is yet to commit to another season but is believed to be set to play on to pass a historic 400-game mark.
“Just to ensure they are here for forever and a day, the state government along with the NRL and Storm, will invest in statues for both Billy and Cameron,” Eren said.
Slater said he was thrilled to be recognised in that way.
“I’m really proud of the contribution I’ve made to rugby league in this state,” Slater said
“To have a statue of Cameron and myself out the front of AAMI Park is something I’m really proud of – my kids will be able to grow up in this town and see what their dad’s done for the game in this state.”
Slater didn’t think Smith would also hang up his boots, despite the skipper joking he was now “unemployed” as he was off contract.
But he said he wouldn’t try to convince Smith to play on if he decided to also retire in the wake of the grand final loss.
“Who am I to tell Cameron Smith what to do with his life,” Slater said.
“What he’s done in the game, I don’t think anyone’s got the right to advise him what to do and if he feels it’s the time to finish up, who are we to tell him what to do.”
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