How Penrith can stop Cameron Smith in the 2020 NRL grand final
Four years after their thrilling NRL grand final win in 2016, the Cronulla Sharks have finally revealed the tactical blueprint that contained Cameron Smith.
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Cameron Smith is rugby league’s ultimate big game player with enough trophies, medals and prizes to fill an entire pool room — but nobody, not even Smith, is perfect on the NRL’s grandest stages.
It’ll be no easy task for the Panthers to shut him down in Sunday’s NRL grand final but it can be done with the 2016 Sharks, the 2018 Roosters and the 2014 New South Wales Blues among the only teams to get the better of Smith when it mattered most.
No plan is foolproof when it comes to Smith, but here are four things the Panthers can draw from those matches if they’re to down the living legend.
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1) MAKE HIM WORK
Heading into the 2016 grand final, Cronulla had a reputation as Melbourne’s bogey side despite being smashed 26-6 by the Storm in a minor premiership showdown in Round 26.
For the decider, the Sharks had a simple plan for Smith — they forced him to make 67 tackles, the most of any game in his career, in an effort to dull his extraordinary command of the game.
“Come grand final night it was all about going up the field north-south, carrying the ball as hard as possible, sprinting onto it every time and every time Cam Smith was in the zone he had to be in the tackle,” said Luke Lewis, who was awarded the Clive Churchill medal after Cronulla’s 14-12 victory.
“It was really driven by Mick Ennis, more so than normal. Every time he saw him he’d yell out ‘Cam’s there, Cam’s there!’ and you’d get the ball and get straight into him.
“At the same time, if you looked up and Cam wasn’t where we needed to get to, some of the boys took it on themselves to run over where he was and force him to make the tackle.”
2) START FAST
With the exception of the 2008 grand final, when Smith was suspended for Manly’s 40-0 rout, the only time the Storm have looked totally outclassed in a big match was in the opening quarter of their 21-6 loss to the Roosters in the 2018 decider.
The Tricolours raced to an 18-0 lead at the break as they physically overwhelmed the Storm in attack and denied them field position and possession in an incredible blitzkrieg of aggression and intent.
Keeping the ball away from Melbourne means you’ll keep it away from Smith — he finished the match without a single run to his name.
A fast start is a recipe for success in any big game but when you’re taking on Smith it’s an absolute must and Lewis believes Penrith can do just that without adjusting their regular game plan too much.
“I look at the way Penrith play I don’t think they need to do anything different,” Lewis said.
“It’ll be in the back of their mind, making sure he does as much work as possible, but I think if they can just execute their game plan as well as they can they can beat the Melbourne Storm.
“I don’t know if they’ll take too much out of targeting Cameron Smith but it’ll help if he’s under fatigue. But I have a pure, 100 per cent belief Penrith need to focus on themselves.”
3) CONSTANT PRESSURE
Lewis was also part of New South Wales 6-4 win in Origin II of 2014 — the only series Smith lost between 2006 and his representative retirement at the end of 2017.
The Maroons were blessed with a galaxy of stars during their dynasty with Smith linking up with Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Darren Lockyer over the years, but the Blues managed to end the streak with constant, suffocating pressure on the champion dummy half.
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“It’s all about putting as much pressure on him as possible and not giving him any time — but at the same time you can’t just come out and sit on him because it creates space behind the ruck,” Lewis said.
“There’s a lot of information that goes in when it comes to Cam Smith, he’s so cluey.
“You want to put pressure on him when he kicks but it’s hard to pick it because he’s going from dummy half. If you chase too hard he’ll come out to the left side of the ruck and hook it back around when you least expect it.
4) STAY ON THE JOB
It’s easy to pick out these three games as a blueprint to stopping Smith, but the truth of the matter is Penrith can be close to perfect with their game plan on Sunday and it still might not be enough.
For a player of Smith’s calibre there’s no way to keep him out of the game entirely — the best you can hope for is to limit his influence.
Even in the 2016 grand final, when he was forced to do more work than any other match of his career, Smith was still exceptional — he likely would have won man of the match had the Storm got up.
“Even though we did a really good job on him he played awesome,” Lewis said.
“He’s super fit and he’s not going to show fatigue. He’s a machine and he doesn’t get rattled.
“That’s why he’s been so good for so long, he’s so calm under pressure and he’s so calm in big moments.
“Even when he’s tired his body language doesn’t show it, so you start to question yourself -— are we doing it right?
“Are we getting at him enough? Is he making enough tackles? Are we making him do the work? Because even if you are, he aint showing it.”
Originally published as How Penrith can stop Cameron Smith in the 2020 NRL grand final