Storm legend Cameron Smith should be celebrated, not demonised, writes Mark Robinson
In a sport dominated by headlines of players getting drunk and stripping naked, of being involved in disgraceful behaviour with women and domestic violence, somehow NRL legend Cameron Smith is the No.1 villain, Mark Robinson writes.
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“He has tirelessly worked to reach the mountaintop in life. He is respectful, gracious, humble and kind. He has found balance with his family and work. He has excelled at his chosen profession through dedication, mental strength and a relentless drive to be the best. So, why do people hate him so much?’’
That was written about legendary Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in the New York Daily News in February, 2018.
The same could be written about Melbourne Storm immortal Cameron Smith in August, 2019.
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Why does NSW media and fans bully and ridicule one of rugby league’s all-time greats?
Down south, we can’t comprehend it.
Smith, a Queenslander made famous in Melbourne — and there might be the issue for these pesky people north of northern Victoria — is on the verge of being booed out of the game.
We’ve seen it before in the AFL. Adam Goodes, the two-time Brownlow medallist, was forced to escape the game after being mercilessly pilloried by antagonistic media types and the mob joined the pile on.
Storm has spoken to Smith about what they say are personal attacks and is understood to have spoken to broadcasters this week about what they believe is unfair critiquing of the world’s greatest-ever hooker.
Yep, it’s that urgent and depressing.
Smith has a year to run on his contract with Storm, was recently celebrated for being the first player to reach 400 league games, but is suddenly said to be weighing up his future.
For all elite sportspeople, criticism of performance comes with the territory, and Smith is wearing criticism in recent times.
But when family is introduced into the discussion, the criticism becomes deeply personal.
In mid-July, the NRL presented Smith’s wife Barb a $15,000 diamond ring to celebrate her husband’s 400th game.
Yes, the money could’ve been spent elsewhere, which I said at the time on Macquarie Radio, but it really was a harmless discussion.
If the NRL saw fit to give her the gift, good on them.
And good on you, Barb.
The gift wasn’t warmly welcomed in sections of Sydney media and the fan base.
It even made front-page news in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, which the Storm privately wonders is carrying a vendetta against Smith and the club.
Not all media are on a witch hunt. Warren Smith from Fox Sports recently tweeted: “Cameron Smith’s greatest crime? Winning. A lot. For Melbourne, Queensland and Australia. Had he grown up in Padstow (in Sydney’s west) and helped NSW win 11 out of 12 Origin series he’d be given an annual ticker tape parade down George Street.’’
Cameron Smith’s greatest crime?
— Warren Smith (@WarrenSmithFOX) August 19, 2019
Winning.
A lot.
For Melbourne, Queensland and Australia.
Had he grown up in Padstow and helped NSW win 11 out of 12 Origin series he’d be given an annual ticker tape parade down George Street.
The Smiths didn’t ask for the ring, but strangely the Smiths and the NRL were being lambasted.
And the 24-7 coverage on social media of anything controversial is hardly bedtime reading for your kids.
The upshot is Smith is being hounded off the ground and on it, in mainstream media and in the online hell hole, and the fun of playing league in his twilight years is being swiped from him by the week.
Indeed, you could argue Smith and the Storm have been targets for a very long time.
To find out exactly why, best we go back.
Collective NSW didn’t like Storm when they entered the competition in 1998.
They particularly didn’t like it when they won the premiership in the their second season, 1999.
They didn’t like them being perennial finalists.
They didn’t like them because they accused Storm of bringing “wrestling’’ into the sport. “The grapple, the chicken wing, the rolling pin — they’ve all come into the NRL from the Storm,’’ Cronulla captain Paul Gallen wrote two weeks ago.
They didn’t like them winning more premierships.
They didn’t like the salary-cap cheating (OK, we’ll give you that one).
They didn’t like that Smith and Billy Slater and Co said they weren’t aware of the salary-cap cheating (you can’t have that one).
They didn’t like Smith and Slater and Co beating them senseless for a decade in the State of Origin.
They didn’t like it when Alex McKinnon was left paralysed in a tackle in 2014 (no one did) and Smith’s alleged lack of sympathy on the field. An article in 2015 written by journalist Danny Weidler carried the headline: ‘As Alex McKinnon moves on, Cameron Smith is still playing the victim’. The Storm say it was a ridiculous article.
They don’t like Smith’s tactics at hooker, such as being third man in on the tackle and laying on blokes, which is called slowing the play, which is a league-wide tactic.
They don’t like the “wishbone tackle’’, the “chicken wing’’ or the latest one, the “wing nut’’, which they said was employed by Smith on Canberra young gun Bailey Simonsson’s left ear earlier this month.
They don’t like Smith because, they say, he talks to the referee too much. They have dubbed him Referee Smith.
And you’d think league players, at times, have had a set against Smith.
Twice Smith has won the Golden Boot, which is awarded to the best player in the world. The first time was in 2007. The next was in 2017.
In 2017, he also won the Dally M award (our Brownlow Medal), captained the Storm to the premiership, captained Queensland to a 2-1 series victory over New South Wales in State of Origin and captained Australia to win the World Cup final against England at Lang Park.
But his peers weren’t so enthusiastic about Smith in the same year.
He was voted best player in the world, the best player in the comp, yet the NRL players association players’ champion award was given to James Tedesco.
In recent weeks, Storm coach Craig Bellamy has gone into bat for his team and Smith over criticism that they don’t play in the spirit of the game.
South Sydney fired shots. Bellamy returned fire.
And never too far away from tipping on the Storm is Manly.
This week Manly plays Storm at Brookvale Oval. Those two teams hate each other. And not sure Manly coach Des Hasler and Bellamy get together at Christmas, either.
The backdrop to this encounter, of course, is the sudden booing of Smith by fans and the accusation he employs grubby tactics.
Grubby? In a sport dominated by headlines of players getting drunk and stripping naked at piss-ups, of being involved in disgraceful behaviour with women and domestic violence, somehow a champion of the league community is the No.1 villain.
Smith should be celebrated and not demonised.
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Originally published as Storm legend Cameron Smith should be celebrated, not demonised, writes Mark Robinson