Cameron Smith tipped to retire with decision on Storm skipper’s future imminent
Storm champion Cameron Smith is set to make a long-awaited decision on his future early next week and has been tipped to announce his retirement from rugby league.
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Storm champion Cameron Smith is set to make a long-awaited decision on his future early next week and has been tipped to announce his retirement from rugby league.
The Sydney Morning Herald’s Andrew Webster believes Smith will make a call on his future after Round 16 in a bid to avoid distractions for his team’s preparations for their blockbuster clash with the red hot Rabbitohs next Friday.
“Having got to know him in the last few years I reckon he will do it at the start of the week,” Webster said on The Big Sports Breakfast.
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“Knowing Cameron, around his big milestone matches like his 400th and when he went past Lockyer, he hated all the interest and fanfare around it because it really effects the teams’ performance and it is a distraction later in the week.
“I think he will do it early next week and Melbourne without pressuring him are saying listen we need an answer.
“I would not be surprised if he retired. That said anyone who says they know is guessing because I don’t think Cameron knows.
“He has this really weird situation where he is 37-years-old but his body is not telling him to retire. It is very, very strange.”
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Laurie Daley said that when a player wants to retire he automatically just wakes up one day and knows, but Smith isn’t at that point, according to Webster.
“I just woke up one morning and said that’s it, I’m done,” Daley said.
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“Yeah see he (Smith) doesn’t know,” Webster replied.
“So he doesn’t want to make the call despite his age and the fact that it has got to come sooner or later and despite all the uncertainty it is causing for the Storm.
“I think he would be loathed to play against the Storm. His family want to relocate to Brisbane because that is where they are from and that’s where all their support is.
“He has got three young kids and Melbourne is a pretty tough place to be at the moment, so I’m expecting a decision early next week and I think the Storm are too.
“I would be surprised if he played on.”
Smith has scored 46 tries in 423 games for the Storm over 19 seasons since his debut in 2002 and he also played 42 Origins for the Maroons and 56 Tests for the Kangaroos.
The Queensland legend is weighing up whether to hang up the boots, extend with the Storm or shift to either the Broncos or the Titans in 2021.
Originally published as Cameron Smith tipped to retire with decision on Storm skipper’s future imminent