Not even Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy knows whether Cameron Smith will retire
Cameron Smith still has a locker in the Melbourne Storm dressing room, but not even those closest to him know if he’ll use it again.
NRL
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Craig Bellamy insists Cameron Smith’s relationship with his beloved Melbourne Storm has not become strained as the NRL legend dithers over his future.
It has been 98 days since Smith hoisted the Provan-Summons Trophy following Melbourne’s dramatic NRL grand final triumph at ANZ Stadium.
While many expected a fairytale retirement announcement to follow, especially after he had been chaired off Suncorp Stadium the week prior, Smith maintained he was yet to decide what his future held.
The most capped player in the history of the game, with 430 NRL appearances for the Storm to go with 56 Tests and 42 Origins, released an autobiography without addressing the topic.
He then claimed he would make a call by Christmas. Now living on the Gold Coast with his family having relocated from Melbourne, Smith is still yet to reveal his plans.
The Storm have three spots to fill on their roster and are yet to appoint a new captain just over a month out from the 2021 NRL season kicking off.
Smith still has a locker in Melbourne’s team dressing room, but at least some Storm players have become tired of the never-ending speculation.
Coach Bellamy said he is yet to hear from Smith and the long-running saga was not affecting his legacy and relationships with the club.
“As I said, and I ain’t going to take it back now, he deserves the right to make his decision when he wants,” he said.
“We have planned for him to be here and for him to not be here.
“I haven’t heard anything from him. I’m not quite sure what he’s up to. He’ll make that decision when he’s ready.
“It’s no strain at all. Not with me, I haven’t heard any of that. I’m not a hypocrite and I’ve said it all along he’s earned the right to make that decision when he wants.
“He’s not here at the moment so we’re moving along with our preparation for the season without him. When he makes a decision, if we have to change something then we’ll change it.
“His locker is still there with his photo up on it. I don’t think anyone will clean it out. No-one is game to look in there.
“The guy that washes the training gear has put some of the new training gear in there for Cam so we’ll see what happens.”
Smith, 37, has been uncontactable for many of those closest to him.
He has had a discussion with Storm chairman Matt Tripp in recent weeks, but the result of that chat has not been made public.
Tripp has not returned numerous phone calls and text messages from The Sunday Mail over the past month.
Smith is the same, with Gold Coast Titans culture boss and Immortal Mal Meninga even having difficulty contacting the former Kangaroos and Queensland captain.
The Titans have maintained no-one at the club has spoken with Smith about the possibility of joining the Gold Coast in a playing or coaching capacity.
Yet at the same time, the Titans have not shut the door on him, unlike the Brisbane Broncos who have ruled out the possibility of signing Smith.
One high-profile NRL coach believes Smith could be biding time before signing for a reduced rate given the NRL financial year starts in November and a club would only have to pay about half of his $1 million salary.
League great Matty Johns, a close friend of Smith’s, has changed his tune in recent weeks.
“I don’t know what is going on there,” Johns told SEN Radio.
“I’ve got a sneaking suspicion he might go around again, maybe with the Titans.
“I was certain he was going to retire, but the longer the silence and absence I’m starting to think maybe he might pop up somewhere.
“Last year with the Storm, he didn’t go back to pre-season training until a week or two before the trials. The miles he’s got in his legs and his lungs, he could basically turn up the day before the first game and he’d be good as gold.
“I can’t work out any other reason he would remain silent like he is at the moment unless he’s got an ace up his sleeve.
“There’s been no sightings of him. He’s like Bigfoot. No one has spotted him.
“I’ve got the feeling that he thinks he might want to play again. He certainly knows he can play again.”
Smith hasn’t entirely disappeared.
He has been getting around the Gold Coast and is frequently seen with best friend and former Storm teammate Matt Geyer.
Smith and Geyer were spotted at an under-19s carnival in Coffs Harbour last weekend, which Titans coach Justin Holbrook was attending, and played in an Australia Day Twenty20 cricket match on the Gold Coast.
Smith retired on 35 not out and returned to the crease in the last over, whacking a six before falling just short of guiding his team to victory.
It was a rare failure on the field for a man who hates losing.
Shortly before Christmas, a mini Melbourne reunion of sorts was held at Tallebudgera Surf Club on the Gold Coast.
In attendance was an assortment of current and former Storm figures in Bellamy, Michael Crocker, Jahrome Hughes, Smith and ex-hooker Nathan Friend.
Smith’s future wasn’t brought up and Friend believes it could go either way.
“He could retire without saying anything,” he said.
“He isn’t doing what he is doing because he’s thinking of the media and what they will say. It’s him as an individual.
“Although he’s in the limelight it’s really no-one’s business what he does, when he retires and how he does it. I’m sure he has probably had his mind made up for a while.
“The ball is in his court. He has said he is feeling fantastic and there’s no reason why he couldn’t go around.
“He finished with a grand final so there are so many ticks for him to walk away from the sport now.
“If he misses it then he could probably rock up and go. It will take him two games to get match-fit then he will go into autopilot and away he goes.
“Even though the game has got faster over the years it has slowed down for him. He sees it before it happens.”
This may be the first time Smith isn’t sure what’s about to happen next.
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