It’s quite unreal that we are less than a week from the start of the 2021 NRL season, and yet one of the greatest players of all time still hasn’t decided whether he will play on, and if so, where.
The Cameron Smith situation has been a constant focus of media attention throughout what has felt like quite a short off-season. In fact, the off-season has been only a month longer than the COVID lay-off after just two rounds last year.
But the man who has played over 400 games, and is one of, if not the best player of his generation, still hasn’t made his mind up.
It is becoming quite obvious that the Melbourne Storm have prepared and are beginning life without their former captain. With Harry Grant and Brandon Smith both still at the club, the long-term success story is in good hands moving forward at one of the pivotal positions on the park.
Grant and the younger Smith will still be fighting it out for the number nine jersey, but at least, from a Melbourne fan’s point of view, they won’t find the urgency to leave the club they may have if Cameron returned from his supposed new base on the Gold Coast for one last run around in the Victorian capital wearing purple.
And the argument could be made that with the future of the club ready to go, Melbourne don’t really need Smith.
He is one of the best, but whether he will provide the same output in 2021 is anyone’s guess, and under Craig Bellamy’s leadership, it would take a brave man to predict the dramatic fall from grace many did when stars Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk finished with the club.
On the Gold Coast though, the situation is phenomenally different.
The club are just turning a corner. The re-build has been well underway, but it might be time for them to shoot for finals footy in 2021.
Looking through their squad, if they can stay fit and healthy, they will be one of the big improvers this season.
Whether it’s the twin signings of boom forwards Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and David Fifita, the work-a-holic attitude of Moeaki Fotuaika, the improved halves combination of Jamal Fogarty and Ashley Taylor, or the influence AJ Brimson has over the club, there are few gaps in the roster.
(Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)
The way Brimson improved this side when he came back from injury last year as they went from averaging 12 points per game to over 20 was phenomenal, and his influence was confirmed on State of Origin debut in the series opener before he was sidelined with a Lisfranc fracture.
However, and it is a big however, they are lacking in the dummy-half role.
Mitch Rein is there, sure, but Nathan Peats was let go and never really replaced. There are plenty of youngsters on the club’s radar, like development players Jayden Campbell, Alofiana Khan-Pereira and Tristan Powell, but none of them will be ready to play this year, and more importantly, none are hookers.
In fact, apart from Rein, who is likely to don the starting number nine jersey for the first part of the season, Erin Clark is the only other player you could reasonably recognise as a hooker, taking that Tanah Boyd is a half who can fill in a little bit at best.
The decision to let Nathan Peats go, while seeming a reasonable one on the surface given the former New South Wales representative’s output over the past year few years, will come back to bite them if they don’t secure the signing of Smith.
While some clubs, like the Tigers, may turn to boom youngsters like Jake Simpkin to start the season in one of the most important positions on the field, the Titans can’t afford to do that, nor do they have the resources.
What they need with their young squad is experience, and when you need experience, there is no better name in the competition than Cameron Smith, even if his output was to slightly diminish as he reaches the grand conclusion of an amazing career.
His record doesn’t need to be mentioned, but there is little doubt that with the talent which would surround Smith on-field, right across the park, he is the gel and glue which could bring it all together and turn the Titans into a premiership contender from their current slot, which looks like being somewhere in the mid-table anywhere from about seventh to 12th, such is the likelihood of a close race this season.
It’s the perfect fit for the Titans. They address two birds with one stone, being the hooking and experience shortages, and the remainder of the squad would learn plenty from having Smith there even for a single year.
(Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
It would turn the club into a powerhouse for years to come, and if the Titans don’t have a blank chequebook in front of Smith for their final top-30 squad, then the world has gone mad.
The ball should be in Smith’s court, with the big questions surrounding whether he wants to play on and whether he could possibly bring himself to play against Bellamy and the Storm.
But if the answers are yes to those questions, then the challenge of making the Titans a powerhouse should be enticing to one of the greats.
Time will tell, but this would be something special.
The Gold Coast might just finally make something of their sporting deathtrap if the cards fall into place.
Simon
Guest
Cam can do what he likes. It's a big decision. He owes nothing to anybody but himself and his family
Nat
Roar Guru
Yes right cheech. :laughing: Puff puff pass keza is a d.u.m.b.a.s.s.
Daeman
Guest
And the Cronk thing is probably the biggest single reason why smith won't ever suit up for another club! Plenty of melbourne fans are still raw about Cronk. And if we're still raw about it, you can only imagine how much it still burns Cam up. Given from all reports Cooper going to the roosters was the single biggest reason for smith and cronk's falling out, can anyone honestly see smithy playing in a jersey that isn't Melbournes? I'd imagine fans would be liable to toss his statue into the Yarra
Daeman
Guest
He's either retired on the quiet, which he's entitled to do. Or he'll show up in a melbourne jumper sometime this season.... The longer he strings it out, the less melbourne have to pay him. He's a one club player and all this chatter about titans and broncos is exactly that.... Chatter. He's to professional to move into a new team without proper preparation and I reckon Barb would nearly divorce him if he joined the broncos now.....I think they'd almost hear her screaming from melbourne "why didn't you bloody join them years ago" The only logical and realistic scenario aside from retirement at this point is a bit role in a side who he knows intimately with a coach who knows his game inside and out..
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The big question is whether the magic with the refs will continue at the Titans. There is no doubt Cameron is the by far the best ever at holding down the player while not copping penalties, he is the ultimate coaches dream because of that. Thats also an ability that doesn't decline with age, unlike everything else, imagine a 40+ year old Cameron Smith could still play being last man into the tackle and last man off, after all already Cooper Cronk in a grand final started with one arm and even Cooper Cronk with one arm did more defensive work than Wally Lewis did.
Kerry Hanson
Guest
Ahhh there you ( quite predictably I must say ) go . Like a duumb fish, you took the bait . I don’t sit around rolling J’s all day, I just wrote that ,and because you have no life outside staring at a screen all day , you read it , and because you wanted to believe it , you did believe it. That my simple friend is why you are no better than a duumb sheep. BAAAAAAAA BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
RoryStorm
Guest
Good article Scott and I'm sure there's more than just you that hopes he turns up at the Gold Ghost. I'm with too on wondering would he play against the Storm or Bellamy? I for one doubt he would. But then again its anybody guess with Cameron. To me, he's still got it and playing another season would be well on his capabilities. Sure he's not blessed with a lot of pace, but he never was. The 2020 GF showed he's still got a brain that's sharper than anybody else's in the game. The way he scored that try just before half time in the GF just about sums up just how quick between the ears. When Api knocked the ball out of his hands, every player but him thought it was a knock on & that includes the referee who was standing right there and called it a no try probably because he didn't believe anybody could pick the ball up that quickly and planting over the Tryline without him knocking it on ever so slightly. That one play just about showed just how good Cameron really is. He never takes his eye off the ball. You mentioned Cameron playing over four hundred games. In fact it's well over four hundred NRL games. If you add up all his SOO games and rest matches it's well over five hundred games. Someone will eventually play more games all up than Cameron because records are made to be broken. But for now I'll raise a toast to him for treating us fans with more excitement than we should be entitled to. I raised a toast to Slater when he retired and one day I may even give Cooper Cronk a salute further on down the pass, but for now, I still haven't forgiven him.
Kobi
Guest
Breaking News Cameron Smith retired with a premiership in 2020. Goodnight.
Birdy
Roar Rookie
I do agree HY. At least it's not as bad as the Fallou soapie. I prefer players with his record retire as 1 club players. However , 1 season with the Titans ramps up my interest.
Succhi
Roar Rookie
I believe it irks Smith that his arch enemy, Cooper Cronk, went to another club and won a premiership. He can’t let the Cronkster have an achievement that may dim his own. Therefore, he will wait until mid season and, after a discussion with Sportsbet and his book publisher, sign with whichever team has the best chance of winning the premiership. He won’t sign with a team that looks like it won’t make the top four.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
I hope he goes there, it would be a buzz for the club and area.
Nat
Roar Guru
Vinyl! You? :laughing: :laughing: The only vinyl you have a cheap knock-off 'leather' jacket sweetheart. If you haven't worked out the spotify is free, I very much doubt you could work an old LP. :laughing: :laughing: Yes, everyone else in the world knew that if you pay for songs you get to keep them! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: Maybe save your $3.99 a month and contribute a bit more toward the ol' hoochy cooch? You must wake-n-bake before contributing these masterpieces.
andrew
Roar Rookie
My sentiments exactly.
Tony
Roar Guru
A nutter on Sydney talk back radio. Like Alan Jones without the vocabulary.
Rob
Guest
100% all the people with a Cameron Smith issue seem to be consumed by what he’s doing. I’m not sure he’s hindering any club. To be honest if a player’s contract ended at a club and he remained unsigned by any other club, would everyone be blowing up because he hasn’t told the world he’s not playing ever again? Maybe Cameron has had 20 preseasons and decided he just might sit one out and see if he can cope with not playing football. How many players say they found retirement enjoyable until the following season kicked off and realised how much they missed playing? Maybe the itch is still there. Who knows and personally what does it have to do with anyone else but the individual involved and maybe a coach that may want his services. If doesn’t play life goes on, if he does play we get to see one of the go around again.
Tony
Roar Guru
Well done Kerry
Adam
Guest
Getting pretty sick of hearing about this now tbh. Until something is announced, consider the bloke 'retired'. The footy season is only a week away - let's start talking a bit more about that.
Birdy
Roar Rookie
I've read the article and agree with it, as yet I haven't read the comments, perhaps later in the day. My thoughts on Smith, I hoped he would retire on top. He turned a new expansion club into a champion organisation. To play one last year at another club would be sad except if it were the Titans. The club everyone wants to put the boot into. The NRL should allow a one off special salary cap breach. $2m for one season. I'd even pay $5m if I were the Titans owner. With Smith there you would have year round positive publicity, junior interest in the schools would be at an unheard of high . Attracting origin quality players would be a given. The Titans would become the power house they were always destined to be. Gawd, I'd even double he's fee if he bought home a premiership. This is a golden opportunity for the Titans and a massive chance for RL to finally stamp their dominance on the coast. Bring it on.!!!!!!!!!!
Kerry Hanson
Guest
I have a considerable vinyl collection myself, but you can’t take 1000 songs with you in the car and Bluetooth it to the wireless. I’m led to believe MP3 million is another good option, you actually pay for the songs and keep them , whereas with spot , once you stop paying, you stop listening. Baaaaaaa Baaaaaa Baa Baa Baaaaaaaa Baaaa . I thought I’d be kind enough to translate so Nat can follow the conversation.
Sydneysideliner
Roar Rookie
I had something like that in my weekend touch comp. This bloke who was an absolute gun would just hang out and play for someone who was short. He'd score all the tries and the ladder would be absolute mayhem...