Latest Cameron Smith news: NRL great retires from Melbourne Storm, won’t play for Gold Coast Titans

Cameron Smith has confirmed his retirement from the NRL. The news sparked praise from the Gold Coast footy community who had hoped to lure to legend to the Titans. READ ALL THE COMMENTS

• Titanic shock? Smith spotted training on the Gold Coast
• Inside viral photo star’s encounter with Smith
• Ones to watch: Burleigh players on show
• Preston Campbell responds to Helensvale Hornets rumours

CAMERON Smith has confirmed his retirement from the NRL, meaning he won’t have a farewell season at the Gold Coast Titans.

Despite that, Paul Broughton, a former CEO of the Gold Coast Chargers and leading footy identity in the city, heaped praise on the 37-year-old.

“If we were asked to design the complete player of the game of rugby league then Cameron Smith would be the prototype,” he tweeted.

The Storm earlier on Wednesday announced the Smith news.

“Cameron Smith has today announced his retirement from professional rugby league,” Melbourne tweeted on Wednesday.

“Cam is not only among the most decorated players the game has ever seen, he made an immeasurable contribution to our club on and off the field, and his legacy will be remembered in Melbourne forever.”

The news sparked praise from the Gold Coast footy community, with Titans fans expressing their thoughts over the man many had hoped would join the club.

Harry Palmer worte in the Gold Coast Titans Fans Club: “He easily could’ve played on for a couple of seasons. Such a bad decision.”

James Rutkin said it had become too late in the pre-season to sign Smith anyway.

“Honestly think its for the better at this point we didn’t sign him anyway.”

David Carlisle indicated he thought Smith had made the right call.

“Who doesn’t want to do what’s right for them and their families?”

The 37-year-old last played in Melbourne’s grand final triumph but a family move to the Gold Coast increased specualtion the hooker would have a farewell season at the Titans or Brisbane Broncos.

More than 1200 readers voted in a Bulletin poll on what Smith should do, with 66 per cent hoping he signed for the Titans. It sparked a campaign from the Bulletin to convince Smith to have a final season with a team on the rise.

Despite an appearance at Mudgeeraba Redbacks Rugby League Club, Gold Coast Titans officials denied they had spoken to Smith, who played a record 433 NRL games for the Storm.

Brisbane then emerged as a contender for the Queensland great, who remained largely silent throughout the saga.

MORE TO COME

Cameron Smith has today announced his retirement from professional rugby league.
Cam is not only among the most decorated players the game has ever seen, he made an immeasurable contribution to our club on and off the field, and his legacy will be remembered in Melbourne forever. pic.twitter.com/iEqxelnvQA

— Melbourne Storm 🏆 (@storm) March 10, 2021

SMITH COMMENT - FEBRUARY

FOUR weeks before James Roberts signed a two-and-a-half year deal with the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 2019, supercoach Wayne Bennett went ballistic.

“We haven’t approached him and James won’t be coming to South Sydney, this year or next year,” he fumed.

“It starts with you guys (the media) sitting in coffee rooms and thinking ‘what am I going to make up today’.”

A month later Bennett was all smiles – he had his man.

“What we had to do was get everyone off the scent,” he explained.

“The speculation at the time was out of control … We put our club first and that’s what we did.

“We had a plan on how to get him, we executed it and here we are: James Roberts is back at South Sydney.”

Sound familiar?

Gold Coast Titans coach Justin Holbrook has said since the NRL Grand Final he has not had any contact with Cameron Smith.

Club recruitment chief Ezra Howe has been gagged by the team since before last season.

Titans CEO Steve Mitchell delivered what might have been the knockout blow for the whole saga on Tuesday.

“The season starts in three weeks. It has never been looked at as an option,” he said.

Mal Meninga doubled down on Thursday, saying Smith would not be signing with the Titans.

If Mitchell and Meninga are students of the Wayne Bennett school of media manipulation they will have sat back with satisfaction that their jobs were done; now it is up to Howe to close a deal for Smith free of the scrutiny of the general public.

Whether you believe that to be true or not, the experienced footy fan knows to take those comments with a grain of salt at best and outright scepticism at worst.

After all, there is no greater indicator that a coach’s days are numbered than when he receives the dreaded ‘full support of the board’.

You can ask Paul McGregor (Dragons), Paul Green (Cowboys), Stephen Kearney (Warriors) or Anthony Seibold (Broncos) about that.

They were all sacked in 2020 having received their board’s support within seven months of their exits.

The Titans have every reason to obfuscate a potential pursuit of Smith so as not to scare him off.

He’s accomplished everything he needs to in the game and the team needs him more than he needs them.

Loose lips sink ships and the Titans wouldn’t allow a leak to spoil their chance at adding the NRL’s answer to Tom Brady.

And if a public denial helps to achieve that goal no one will mind a little white lie.

SHILLINGTON: SMITH WILL BRING ‘8 IN A ROW CULTURE’ TO TITANS’

FORMER Gold Coast and Maroons prop David Shillington has voiced his full support for the Bulletin’s campaign to bring his old representative skipper Cameron Smith to the Titans despite the club shooting down rumours this week.

Shillington packed down alongside Smith in seven of his eight Origin matches and 13 of his 14 Tests for the Kangaroos.

He has witnessed first-hand the cultural impact the talismanic hooker has made on his teams and remains adamant Smith is the missing piece to take Gold Coast from a finals hopeful to an outright premiership contender for the first time.

“I would love to see Cameron at the Titans,” Shillington declared.

“The squad, as it stands without him, are on the up but with Smith they could be a top-four team which is pretty phenomenal for the Titans.

“The club has made the odd finals appearance but it’s been lean times on the Gold Coast.

“The addition of Smith as a genuine superstar could be what they need.”

Shillington has a clearer understanding than most of the decision at hand for Queensland’s greatest Origin champion.

At 32, as one of the oldest players in the NRL, he signed with Gold Coast to help set the tone of a winning culture for a young and talented group.

The parallels with Smith in that respect are clear.

“The Titans were desperate for good leadership (in 2016) and I was really excited as an Origin and Australian player about the opportunity to add value through leadership and playing good footy,” he said. “I was injured at the time and after a few good games I re-did my shoulder and my Titans career unravelled, but you could see the things that were happening at that club.”

After sitting on the sidelines through 2016 Shillington retired and watched from a distance as a poor culture saw a finals-quality team slip backwards, culminating in the wooden spoon in 2019.

It is a sombre lesson that echoes through the years as the Titans, who have assembled the most talented roster since the club’s inception in 2007, search for the field general to ensure standards don’t slip.

There is no better leader on the planet for that job than Smith, who meticulously hand-built the Maroons celebrated ‘eight in a row’ culture alongside former coach Mal Meninga, now with the Titans.

“What made the Maroons culture good was even though there were huge personalities and profiles – it was Smith, Lockyer, Slater, Cronk – but we all knew it was about the 1-17,” Shillington said.

“Everyone in the Maroons team had to turn up and do your job and support each other to beat the Blues.

“Smithy was at the core of that. For him it’s never been about one player, it’s never been about him even though he’s been the highest profile or the highest paid.

“He’s great like that – at the Maroons or the Storm it was never about ego or arrogance.

“It was always about how we play well as a team to be champions.”

‘ABSOLUTE CIRCUS’: WHY SMITH WON’T BE HAYNE 2.0

CAMERON Smith will not be Jarryd Hayne 2.0.

Take that from David Shillington, the Titans’ other marquee recruit from 2016, when Hayne returned from the NFL in a shock mid-season switch to sign on the Gold Coast.

It was the biggest signing in Gold Coast rugby league history to that point but turned sour when Hayne was sensationally sacked 14 months later, leaving a broken salary cap position and a sacked coach in his wake.

Shillington, who played 215 NRL matches and eight Origin games for Queensland alongside Smith, reckons history won’t be repeated as the Bulletin pushes ahead with its Get Cam to the Titans campaign.

The Titans have been given clearance by the NRL to sign Smith should the 37-year-old opt to continue his career in the city he now calls home.

“It was an absolute circus,” Shillington, now 37, recalled of Hayne’s stint.

“He was getting paid a phenomenal amount ($1.2 million per season) having made the high profile game switch.

Jarryd Hayne was a flop at the Titans but Cam Smith could be different.

“There was Hayne-Cam going on, it was the biggest high profile signing I had ever seen.

“I think the Titans did well commercially out of it and we did make the finals… but it didn’t turn out too well the next year.”

It was a textbook example of a ‘saviour’ signing, where a talented player was parachuted into a desperate club he believed he was bigger than.

Shillington can understand concerns of fans who fear that pursuing Smith is dooming the Titans to repeat the mistakes of the past but Smith is not Hayne.

“I don’t think Smith would unsettle the culture the Titans are building,” the 215-game NRL prop said.

HAYNE’S PORN SCANDAL AT COAST SCHOOL

“I do appreciate the thought and it could happen – it might have happened when Jarryd Hayne came.

“But I don’t think it would be anything like that with Cameron, though he’s an even bigger name.

“It’s that Maroons mentality, Smithy would never let it be a circus like that.

“He comes from that culture which he partly built with those greats where it was never about you, it was about the team, the jersey and the state.

“He’d never let it become a circus like when Jarryd Hayne came to the Titans.”

Hayne’s tenure at the Titans was an unmitigated disaster, with eight wins from 23 games between his signing and his sacking, following a six-game losing streak to close out the 2017 season.

The former Eels star was hailed wide and far as a savour for professional rugby league on the Gold Coast when he signed but that sentiment quickly reversed, with the NSW State of Origin representative’s poor performances and attitude drawing the ire of fans throughout 2017. “Maybe the Titans are better off without him,” former RLGC boss Scott Dunshea said in the wake of his exit.

“If you put your coach’s hat on, it’s hard if a player doesn’t want to be there.

“It makes it very hard to collectively have the group going in the same direction so if that’s the way he feels it is probably better off for the Titans that he is not going to be part of the club in the future.”

WHY SMITH COULD BE TITANS’ BEST BARGAIN BUY EVER

IN the Gold Coast Titans’ 14 years as an NRL entity, these are the 10 players who we say provided the most bang for the club’s buck.

Sure, there have been plenty of great buys over the years but this isn’t a list of who played the best, more how much the club got out of the deal.

Cameron Smith, in the middle of the Bulletin’s Get Cam to the Titans campaign, would rank atop the pile should he sign on.

10. Mat Rogers

From league to union and back again, Rogers’ return with the inaugural Titans in 2007 added some name brand excitement to the burgeoning franchise.

An Aussie representative in both codes, Rogers might not have set the world on fire for the Titans but for his time and place, made a memorable mark.

He finished as the club’s joint-leading tryscorer in that first season and went on to cross 30 more times for the Titans over 77 club games.

9. Luke Bailey

Another to join the Titans for their first foray into the NRL, former Dragon Bailey was already a NSW State of Origin representative when he moved to the Gold Coast.

Named co-winner of the Paul Broughton Medal in the inaugural 2007 season, Bailey was the glue that bound the Titans together in the early years and a big part of the team’s run to the 2010 finals – again awarded the Paul Broughton Medal for his efforts.

The 189cm prop finished his Titans career with 150 games and remains one of the best to pull on their jersey. Good early business from the club.

8. Jai Arrow

Arrow went from just another piece for the Broncos to pack leader at the Titans, where he established himself as a State of Origin starter for the Maroons and, in 2019, played for the Prime Minister’s XIII and represented Australia at the Rugby League World Cup 9s.

Though the Titans weren’t a serious contender during his three seasons at the club, Arrow remained an on-field leader they desperately needed.

7. Preston Campbell

It wouldn’t be a Titans list of any kind without featuring the adoptive favourite son of the Gold Coast. In 2005, Campbell became the Titans’ inaugural NRL signing and was one of the key foundational pieces that set the club on its run from competition newbies in 2007 to title contenders just two years later. Boasting the unofficial crown as ‘Greatest-Ever Titan’, Campbell’s influence on the club has remained long after his retirement in 2011. Few if any have had as big an impact on the Titans as he.

6. Nathan Friend

Signed from the Melbourne Storm where he was at most a rotational piece, Friend joined the Titans for their inaugural year in 2007 and went on to play 100 games for the club.

He was the club’s starting rake in the breakthrough 2009 campaign which ended in a maiden finals berth, winning the Titans’ best and fairest in the process. Though not the flashiest or biggest name in Titans history, Friend was a foundational piece who came to the club for a pittance.

5. David Fifita

He hasn’t played a game in Titans colours and will reportedly cost the club $3.5m over the length of his three-year contract, but we still say that’s good value. Prospective value.

Gold Coast landed one of the game’s most sought-after young talents when they lured Fifita from Red Hill and already the sky seems the limit for the Titans in 2021 with the 20-year-old – yes, 20 – in their midst.

4. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui

When the Titans signed Fa'asuamaleaui at the end of 2019 he was a bench prop for the Storm with plenty of promise but few runs on the board. Then 2020 happened.

Like a dark web genius holding a bag of Bitcoin, the Titans watched with glee as the 20-year-old blossomed into a walk-up State of Origin starter, eventually helping the Maroons to a famous series victory. Big Tino’s stock rose through the roof last year and now, installed as one of the game’s most

promising young talents, he is set to lead the Titans’ promising pack in 2021.

3. Jamal Fogarty

From a train-and-trial contract to captaining the club inside six months, Fogarty last year became the face of a resurgent Titans and on his shoulders harbours the hopes of Gold Coast fans everywhere. The club appears to finally have a tried and tested halves combination with Fogarty alongside Ash Taylor – to think he was plying his trade in the Queensland Cup for all those years, right under our noses.

2. Anthony Don

Plucked from the Grafton Ghosts and installed in the Titans’ senior side early in the 2013 season, Don went from no-name flyer to the club’s all-time leading tryscorer in a six-season span. The best value talents are always the ones you find yourself and in Don, the Titans hit a home run.

1. Cameron Smith

Technically this is breaking our own rules, but just this once we’ll allow it.

At first glance Smith might not be a candidate for this list even if – read: once – he signs for the Titans. The future immortal was reportedly on $800k at the Storm last season, which isn’t chump change for anybody.

But even in his age 37 season Smith proved, with yet another NRL premiership, he still has what it takes to lead a team around the park. More so the stir he has caused over the past few months among fans and pundits alike, by simply saying nothing, is proof Smith remains as massive drawcard. His presence at Parkwood would raise the roof.

BULLETIN REPORTER’S EMOTIONAL SMITH PLEA

CAMERON Smith may be keeping the NRL world waiting for news about his future but the Bulletin and Coast footy fans have made up their minds – Get Cam to the Titans.

As part of the Bulletin campaign to convince the 37-year-old, sports reporter Nic Darveniza has outlined five big selling points.

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW

THE LIFESTYLE

Picture this: Cameron Smith has just led the Gold Coast Titans to a 60-0 thrashing of the Brisbane Broncos in round two at Cbus Super Stadium.

Instead of hitting the ice baths and then braving Melbourne’s infuriatingly inconsistent weather - either way too hot or freezing and almost never in between - Smith can celebrate by hitting the waves at Burleigh to start his recovery, the fairways of The Grand golf club through the day and close out with a hike to one of the Hinterland’s pristine waterfalls with the family.

THE COLLEAGUES

Smith’s last boss was grumpy Craig ‘Bellyache’ Bellamy.

His new boss will be the furthest thing from it, in Justin Holbrook.

The Gold Coast’s eternally chipper coach will be a breathe of fresh air to the dictatorial style he’s endured for 431 of his 433 career games.

Teammates Anthony Don and Jarrod Wallace will ensure a culture of fun like he’s never experienced.

PUT AN END TO THE QUESTIONS – PERMANENTLY

Smith won’t recognise his life once he puts the NRL’s greatest off-season mystery mercifully to bed.

No one will ever bail him up in the supermarket or a bottle-O to ask deeply personal questions about his future.

Free from the prying of Trevor from Tallebudgera, Bob from Bundall and Wayne from Worongary, Smith will finally find the peace he hoped to find when making the seachange to the Gold Coast.

PARTY LIKE A CHAMPION

Sporting teams from around Australia flock to the Gold Coast every off-season to celebrate their premiership wins but the Gold Coast has never gotten involved in the party.

That would change if Smith can lead the Titans to the region’s first national premiership.

Our great local beers; Balter, Burleigh Brewing Co, Lost Palms and Black Hops, will taste all the sweeter if enjoyed after a win.

STICK IT TO COOPER CRONK!

Tom Brady, LeBron James and Cooper Cronk all cemented their legacies by winning championships at their new clubs in their first seasons.

But all of their clubs had won titles before.

No one has taken a club to a maiden premiership in their first season.

When Cooper Cronk signed with the powerhouse Roosters and won the title the NRL world lost their minds.

The chance to outdo his estranged mate by leading the historically miserable Titans to that same glory would be the icing on the cake.

LETTER TO SMITH

Dear Cameron,

Welcome to the Gold Coast. It’s a place you can enjoy summer weather virtually all year, have one set of clothes for the day and don thongs, commute to most places in around 15 minutes, hit the beach and the hinterland and take another club to an NRL premiership.

Let’s be honest, you haven’t lost your love of playing. You would have told us by now if you knew for certain. You have been torn but it’s time to put it to bed.

HOW TOM BRADY COULD INSPIRE TITANS DEAL

We want you at the Titans.

You have done it all in league and you have nothing to prove, so why not seek a new challenge in trying to help a Gold Coast team that is yet to taste the same success you have.

Turn a promising team with a strong new coach into a title contender to be feared.

You will play alongside genuine stars like AJ Brimson, David Fifita and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and a forward back brimming with depth.

Some of the greats in multiple sports have cemented their legacy by winning a title with a second club: Think Tom Brady, LeBron James and a bit closer to home – Cooper Cronk.

At 37 you would be the oldest Titan ever – Michael Gordon once had the mantle at 35 – but you would also boast the best winning percentage at Cbus Super Stadium after winning four of five games at the venue.

With 430 games to your name you have played more than the Titans as an entire franchise (336 games).

Be a mentor for a year on the field and then take on a coaching role where you can help mould your own side in the greatest city of all.

If you choose to come you will play alongside some of the great humans like Anthony Don and Jarrod Wallace while you can take your pick from any of the local breweries for a post-game beverage, including Balter, Burleigh Brewing, Black Hops and Lost Palms.

See you in Round 1.

Regards, footy fans of the Gold Coast

HOLBROOK’S STANCE

TITANS coach Justin Holbrook concedes the Cameron Smith saga is entering “bizarre” territory as reports swirl around the Maroons great’s NRL future.

However the Bulletin and Gold Coast footy supporters are already convinced of what the 37-year-old should do next.

A Bulletin poll revealed 92 per cent of fans want the club to sign the hooker, sparking the launch of our ‘Get Cam to the Titans’ campaign.

There’s little doubt in the footy community that the signing of Smith would convert a building Titans side into a finals one.

Holbrook, who is a member of the Titans recruitment committee, only learned from media reports the NRL had granted permission for the club to sign Smith using the remainder of their salary cap last week.

He agreed that where there is smoke there is fire – but said he had no idea where it is coming from.

“I know, it is weird,” a perplexed Holbrook said.

“There hasn’t been any update (on Smith), nothing at all.

“I’m hearing reports, from somewhere, that we’ve spoken (to the NRL) and have agreement from the NRL and all sorts of stuff, so I don’t know.

“It is bizarre.”

The NRL has not received any formal request to register a contract for Cameron Smith but reports emerged last Friday that an informal approach had been made and endorsed by the league.

Gold Coast Bulletin's Cameron Smith campaign.

Former NSW forward Mark Geyer on Thursday said he expected Smith to end up at the Titans but it may not until after the opening few rounds.

Immortal Andrew Johns, meanwhile, on Tuesday admitted he didn’t want to see Smith at any other club than the Storm but conceded the Titans now appear the only option should the 37-year-old play on.

Smith and his wife Barbara have enrolled their kids in a Gold Coast school and spent the off-season living in the city, suggesting retirement or Titans are now the only options.

SMITH SIGNS ON FOR COAST GOLF CLUB

Logan product Smith has played a record 430 NRL matches, a andmark 42 Origin games as well as 56 Tests.

With only 29 players signed to their 30 man squad for 2021 the Titans give every appearance of holding the door open for Smith.

Tanah Boyd has not spent any time training at hooker this pre-season and the Titans have been noticeably quiet on a transfer market that still has hookers available.

Best available Andrew McCullough, Danny Levi and former Titan Nathan Peats have all fielded interest from rivals clubs but Gold Coast has not been among the teams to chase them.

Holbrook himself has been nothing if not diplomatic, acknowledging Smith’s ability to contribute to the Titans but stopping short of voicing an opinion on what he should do.

He has long been a fan of the play of the eighth Immortal, Johns, who he praises for his ability to contribute to a team in every facet.

“Joey was the player I best liked watching,” Holbrook said.

Gold Coast Bulletin's Cameron Smith campaign.

“He could pass the ball, run it, a great kicking game, good defender and good goalkicker so there was always something to like about him.”

The shrewd reader will examine that list and tick off the myriad qualities also embodied by Smith.

There is no doubt how Holbrook privately feels about the chance to bring a generational player like Smith to the Gold Coast for a Tom Brady or Cooper Cronk-inspired premiership swan song.

He’d only tell you the same thing he’s told reporters from across the country since the first day of pre-season.

“Someone will have to ask Cameron.”

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