Cameron Smith v Cooper Cronk NRL feud: Text message that ended a friendship

Cameron Smith stepped away from the truth when talking about his relationship with Cooper Cronk in his new book. Paul Kent reveals what really happened.

The friendship was well and truly over before this moment in 2019. Picture: Jason McCawley/Getty

Revisionist history is as dangerous a business as it is lucrative nowadays.

Former NRL boss David Gallop, once entrusted with the reputation and dignity of the game, gave Cameron Smith a lesson in it all on Sunday.

Today, Cooper Cronk delivers his.

Cronk has become part of the Smith backstory, their falling out covered in Smith’s new autobiography.

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“I am not going to contribute to anything, it’s his story and he can handle it the way he wants, but I am very comfortable with my life and the relationship we have now,” Cronk said on Monday.

Which is no relationship at all. Nor did Cronk dispute the version of events.

The version being promoted behind the scenes, a Smith-friendly version, is that Cronk had his nose out of joint after Smith failed to attend his wedding to Tara Rushton in December 2017.

By then the relationship was already in disrepair.

The nearly came to blows in the 2018 decider. Picture: Brett Costello

Relations turned frosty during the 2017 World Cup.

Earlier in the 2017 season Cronk had announced his intention to move to Sydney to marry Rushton and part of it is he would be looking to join a Sydney club.

Early interest came from battling clubs like Wests Tigers and Canterbury. A few jokes were made about the Sydney Roosters finding salary cap room but few believed it possible, yet by the end of the season Cronk had still to find a club.

The 2017 Rugby League World Cup began October 26 and four days later Cronk announced a two-year deal with the Roosters.

Smith launched his autobiography at Suncorp Stadium. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty

That is the moment their relationship changed forever.

Cronk had not signed with a mid-table rival but with a team genuinely challenging the Storm as the best in the NRL. With Cronk at halfback, the Roosters would be significantly stronger.

It might seem petty, a friendship that had endured all their adult lives crumbling over one decision, but part of Smith’s greatness was always his ruthless pursuit of success.

Every season, for instance, Smith happily contributes to the narrative of paying back Brisbane for overlooking him as a teenager which is, essentially, the same mentality.

The need to conquer, which drives the pursuit of success, can’t always be separated from the inability to forgive, which often maintains it.

“Maybe there was that dark inner side of me that built things up which helped motivate me but what helped me much more was the high standards driven by you know who, (coach) Craig Bellamy,” Smith writes.

Cooper Cronk (L) and Cam Smith (C) enjoyed one of the most successful partnerships in the modern game. Picture: NRL Photos

By signing with Easts Cronk had suddenly positioned himself as a genuine threat to Smith’s success, a fact that proved frightfully true when the Roosters beat the Storm in the 2018 grand final.

The change was immediate within the Australian camp housed together for the World Cup.

Conversation between the two dried up in camp as Smith steered away from Cronk.

During games it was noticed by some teammates that Smith often ignored Cronk’s calls.

Even when Cronk barked the overcall Smith often still took the action the other way.

After the World Cup Cronk had still not received an RSVP from Smith about his wedding, which was small and kept extremely private and less than a fortnight away.

Finally, Cronk texted Smith asking for an answer as he needed to finalise numbers.

“No,” was the reply.

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It was the last contact they ever privately shared.

Cronk was initially confused but came to realise it was the nature of the beast.

Smith has claimed in his book that he is still oblivious why their relationship broke down, a truth that became public only when Cronk brushed past hugging him after a Storm-Roosters game in 2018.

“Wow,” Smith wrote. “What’s up with Cooper?”

Cronk saw the attempted hug for what it was, as genuine as a three-dollar note, Smith working public perception, aware the cameras were following them.

Smith continues to publicly claim he has no idea what, if anything, is wrong. Yet he doesn’t seem to have asked himself why two men who were such close friends no longer speak anymore.

Smith’s unrelenting need to conquer was the start of the break down. Picture: News Corp

Cronk elevated himself, alongside Gallop.

For Smith, often considered the game’s most polished ambassador, it was a show that some people won’t always fall into line no matter how popular the storyteller.

Smith is a tough opponent. He has apologists hiding in every corner.

Yet Gallop simply could not allow Smith to continue peddling the line in his book that the Storm were treated harshly and believes the Storm should have advised Smith years ago that the club had confessed it all in 2010.

The fight is over.

And Gallop actually gave the players a pass.

Several senior players could have been individually sanctioned if the NRL had chosen to prosecute to the full extent.

They signed two contracts for separate amounts, a fake one to register with the NRL and a genuine one that was the business between them and the club. Some payments were scheduled to last until 2013.

The Storm also secretly paid $60,000 for renovations to Smith’s home.

Yet the NRL, led by Gallop, believed that stripping the Storm of two premierships and three minor premiership was sufficient so chose to not personally prosecute the players.

It is a courtesy Smith has either forgotten or chosen to overlook.

“Plain wrong,” Gallop said of Smith’s version.

Gallop can remember the colour of the folder the secret contracts were kept in, a red manilla folder, the kind of detail Smith glosses over in his broad brush attempt to remain a victim.

The irony of that is that of the four contracts in the red manila folder, Cooper Cronk, who never learned to go back, was not among the names inside it.