NRL 2020: Melbourne Storm need answer on Cameron Smith’s future after months of waiting
He’s regarded as a club-first man, but Cameron Smith’s drawn out decision on his future with Melbourne Storm strikes right at the heart of that notion and could disadvantage the club, writes Paul Kent.
Opinion
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The Melbourne Storm is finally ready to do what it should have done months ago: call time on Cameron Smith’s long, delayed decision on what he might do, or won’t do, next season.
For Smith, who always played with lots of time, the irony is explicit. One of the hallmarks to his greatness, perhaps the greatest to ever play the game, was his ability to slow down a game or quicken it according to his team’s needs.
Smith owned time like no other, and so well that only recently did we realise it was a right he thought carried off the field, too.
The Storm have been kept waiting for most of the season while Smith was deciding whether he would play again next season.
And then if he did, who he might play for.
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For a player always regarded as a club-first man, Smith’s delay has become unacceptable.
The Storm are being disadvantaged now, while Smith fiddles.
There are plenty who will argue Smith has the right to make the call on his future any time he sees fit and they will argue this because they do not know, because they have no idea how difficult it is to manage the salary cap or the difficulty it is to get a roster in proper shape and to keep it there.
Years back, when salary caps did not exist and any club could overcome a shortfall by immediately heading to market, a player could make a decision on his future any time he wanted.
Nowadays club rosters recall that old line, stand still and you are going backwards.
The Storm currently have the best part of a million dollars sitting in their salary waiting for Smith’s decision.
If they don’t spend it on Smith, who is still left for next season?
The list is quickly diminishing.
To head into next season with that money not spent, or overspend on players who don’t provide value for money, disadvantages the Storm.
Insiders at the club know it and have been respectfully given Smith time to make his decision while they privately watch the sand drain from the hourglass.
To take on Smith in a public stoush is to risk a fierce backlash.
Yet quietly last week Storm chairman Matt Tripp, his patience worn down, asked coach Craig Bellamy if he could get a steer on what Smith might do.
Tripp believed the Storm had given Smith long enough. That the balance had shifted from respecting Smith’s decision, and the time needed, to having to prepare their own future.
He also knew that two highly important players at the club are getting restless.
Harry Grant has publicly confirmed his intention to return to Melbourne next season even though he has a clause in his contract allowing him to find another NRL club if Smith plays in 2021.
More recently it emerged Brandon Smith, the New Zealand Test hooker, told the Storm through his manager that he would like to explore a release if Cameron Smith plays in 2021.
The Storm was hopeful of keeping both players for next season even if, they fear, one of them will move on for 2022.
But it would give the club 12 months to have a proper look at each player. The Storm can’t give either player a steer on their future until they know what Cameron Smith will do.
Still, Bellamy left his conversation with Smith no wiser on what he might do.
So today the Storm board will meet and Tripp, who owns 25 per cent of the club as well as reigning as current chairman, will emerge from the board meeting with an intention to get an answer from Smith as soon as possible.
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The Storm are tired of waiting and believe they have given the captain enough time.
How Smith responds remains to be seen. He has become accustomed to doing his own thing regardless of what else is happening around the game.
When the NRL announced a testimonial game for Smith in 2018, along with retiring Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston, rival clubs were alarmed that one of the game’s highest earning players was being given an opportunity to earn even more money that would not be included in the salary cap.
Thurston had already signalled his intention to retire.
Smith had not.
Yet the NRL allowed the game to go ahead, once again riding the feel-good freeway always favoured.
I asked then NRL boss Todd Greenberg on why the League would allow Smith a testimonial match, where more a six-figure sum was pocketed by Smith and only a small percentage was donated to charity, when other players had previously been denied a farewell fundraiser.
After all, Smith wasn’t even retiring.
Greenberg said in such situations he often reversed the question to get a direction on the right decision.
“How would it look if we denied him the opportunity to have a testimonial?” he said.
The obvious answer was it would appear fair.
It is 921 days today since that game and Smith is still going strong, still working to his own timetable.