Brandon Smith’s reaction to mid-game massage as good as it gets

Matty Johns and Co. were in stitches as Brandon Smith stole the limelight from the bench in Melbourne’s dramatic loss to the Panthers.

Brandon Smith is loving every minute of the new NRL season.

Brandon Smith is loving every minute of being Melbourne’s first choice No. 9.

The Kiwi international is making the most of his time at hooker after Cameron Smith’s retirement and Harry Grant’s injury woes, and was strong for the Storm in their 10-12 defeat to Penrith in Thursday night’s grand final rematch.

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Smith scored the opening try of the game when he burrowed over from dummy-half and put on a couple of heavy hits in defence. He also looked to be enjoying a shoulder rub from a member of the Storm entourage during a stint on the sideline in the second half.

As the cameras flicked to Smith on the bench, his eyes told the story as he took a trip to pleasure town.

The massage was “eyes roll back in the head” level good.

We want what he’s having.

Brandon Smith is quite the character.

Radio presenter Katie Brown found the episode laughable, tweeting out three crying/laughing emojis on Twitter and writing: “Brandon Smith getting a massage.”

Sportsbet tweeted out a picture of Smith, adding: “That feeling when the last leg of your 10-leg multi hits.”

NRL great Matty Johns and his TV colleagues certainly saw the humour in it, bursting out laughing when footage of Smith’s massage was rolled on The Late Show on Thursday night.

“Our man Mayor Cheese, Hectic Cheese. Really strong first half. This is him when he was off the field getting a massage,” Johns said as he lost it, struggling to find the words while being overcome with laughter.

“Oh mate.

“He’s a great character.”

Roosters premiership winner Bryan Fletcher added: “You know when you get those pressure points? They can do that to you. Quite relaxing.”

Smith’s performance wasn’t enough to prevent Melbourne suffering a two-point loss as a desperate defensive play from Panthers forward Viliame Kikau denied the Storm a try after the full-time siren, holding Justin Olam up over the line.

Smith will be hoping he does enough in the early rounds of the season to convince coach Craig Bellamy he deserves to be the No. 1 hooker even when young gun Harry Grant — who starred for the Tigers last year — returns from injury.