Brandon Smith contract: Melbourne hooker reveals secret meeting with Trent Barrett
The push to get Brandon Smith to Belmore next season is heating up, giving the Bulldogs hopes their biggest gap could about to be filled.
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Melbourne hooker Brandon Smith has revealed he is being urged, almost daily, to switch to Canterbury next year while also confirming a recent breakfast meeting with Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett, joking: “He offered me four million”.
Despite being contracted with Storm until the end of 2022, 24-year-old Smith has approached club officials about looking elsewhere given the rise of fellow hooker, and Queensland Origin incumbent, Harry Grant.
Recently, it was reported the ‘Block of Cheese’ had secretly met at a Melbourne cafe with Barrett, who has already signed Storm flyer Josh Addo-Carr.
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Yet while the cult figure described a move to Belmore next season as “tempting” — and said he was being urged to do so constantly by Addo-Carr — he stressed there was nothing formally discussed over breakfast with the Dogs coach.
In fact, the No. 9 said he only stumbled across Barrett and Foxx while looking to grab an early morning feed at his local cafe.
“We all live in Richmond,” Smith said of the Storm squad. “All within 2km of each other.
“I went down to our local cafe and Josh was there with (Barrett), so I went and introduced myself.
“I went up to him, we spoke and he offered me four million.
“(Laughs) So I said, ‘yeah I’ll take it’.”
Told the Bulldogs needed a hooker, Smith grinned: “They do”.
So what chance you do take Addo-Carr’s advice and follow him to Canterbury then?
“It’s tempting when he scores six tries,” Smith said, referencing the flyer’s record Thursday Night Football haul in Melbourne’s 50-0 win over South Sydney.
“But at the moment we haven’t sorted anything out like that.
“I think the Storm are pretty stubborn about keeping me and I don’t mind.
“If I keep playing good my future will sort itself out.”
Asked if he had spoken with Barrett back in December, when the club confirmed Smith would be released if an “appropriate arrangement” could be found, the rake continued: “I have spoken to him before.
“He gave me a call a while ago.
“That was during the off-season when the Storm had allowed me to go talk with other clubs.
“But nothing along the lines of what we do.
“We didn’t get into details.”
But the Foxx is always in your ear, right?
“Yes, of course,” Cheese laughed. “He’s getting in everyone’s ear because he would love to get a lot of these players to follow him and what they’re building at the club.
“They must have something special going on because they’ve got Matt Burton who I’m sure will attract a lot of players, and that centre from Penrith, Brent Naden.”
Asked if Addo-Carr could potentially persuade a fella north to Sydney, Smith continued: “For sure.
“Because Josh doesn’t just add value on the field through his ability to turn nothing into a try, his energy when you go into training, every day, it’s infectious.
“He’s one of those guys you just want to be around all the time.
“Whether it’s having coffee with him, dinner, or busting your arse training with him, he’s one of those players that you really want to be around.
“I’ve got an infectious energy myself so when he starts doing his thing I start doing mine.
“It’s good for everyone.”
The Storm will take their electric form to Magic Round next weekend where they face St George Illawarra.
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Originally published as Brandon Smith contract: Melbourne hooker reveals secret meeting with Trent Barrett
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