Cameron Smith has always been a step ahead
It was a high school conversation that turned a promising five-eighth into the game’s greatest No 9.
Wayne Watson lives a quiet life these days on a 50-acre plot in Childers, a Queensland town about 50 kilometres south of Bundaberg that lays claim to being the southern gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.
The 67-year-old is happy spending his time pottering around the property he shares with his wife as well as an assortment of kangaroos, chickens and local wildlife.
The man who first introduced future Immortal Cameron Smith to the game of rugby league might have watched the Melbourne Storm and his star pupil play once this year, twice at best.
“I had a few boys that went all the way,” Watson tells The Weekend Australian.
“I have a bit of pride in it of course, but nothing that ever makes my day. All I was doing back in those days was teaching them the ground rules of football.
“It wasn’t coaching, it was teaching. They were just learning. Even when he (Smith) was a lad, he was one of those hundred percenters.
“He would get out and do 100 per cent. He was pretty much the leader of the pack. It’s just some kids do it naturally and others have to try harder.
“He was one of the natural ones. He was always a quiet lad. He kept his thoughts to himself. He wasn’t outspoken like a lot of kids.”
Former Brisbane, Queensland and Australian forward Corey Parker was another of Watson’s kids who kicked on. Others have graduated from his ranks and made their way into the NRL, although Watson struggles to recall many of their names as he reflects on a junior coaching career that peaked when he coached a player many regard as arguably the greatest of all time.
Smith and Watson first crossed paths at Logan Brothers – at that time they were called Brothers‘ St Pauls – in the under 7s. Smith’s father Wayne was a former player himself and an old friend urged him to sign up Cameron.
It was the beginning of a career that many expect to come to an end after Sunday night’s grand final at ANZ Stadium.
“A guy that I used to play with Wests called Billy Whitmore – as it turned out his daughter was going to school with my daughter,” Wayne Smith said.
“His daughter was over my place playing. I said, ‘we will go out the front, your dad is about to pick you up’. Up rocks Billy.
“Cam was out the front, he was six. Bill said the young bloke looks like he is ready to play footy. I said, ‘I am going to take him to Browns Plains’.
“He said, ‘don’t do that, take him down to (Logan Brothers). So we went down and got him signed up and that sort of thing.
“They said that guy over there will be Cam’s coach. I looked over and there is a bloke standing at the bar, bare foot, pair of stubbies, blue singlet on, sucking on a cigarette.
“I have gone, ‘what have you done to me, Billy?’. Anyway, first training run we got out there. I thought I am coming down to watch this.
“He got all the boys on the touch line. He walked them right across the field and said we have to stay in these parameters.
“He was the best under sevens coach I have ever seen. He was a tremendous coach. He created an environment where they just loved playing footy.
“They had fun. One of his big treats was if they did the right thing at training, they could play Red Rover.”
Asked whether his son was a star from the start, Wayne said: “He had a feel for the game all right. That is stuff you don’t coach.”
Watson seems ambivalent about the part he played in history. When Smith’s career is dissected in coming years, he can take pride in the fact he was the man who presided over the first formative steps of one of the game’s all-time greats.
Not that he appears enamoured by the thought.
“It’s like when I had tomatoes and stuff out in the paddock,” he said.
“You plant your seed, you tend to it and it comes up with tomatoes. I am retired now, sitting up here in my block out in the scrub.
“When you’re coaching you are tied in with a group of 14 or 15 players. He has gone out there and done his level best. I have a lot of respect for his efforts. He advanced well and has done good.
“But I wouldn’t stick him on a golden throne. I give his coach down there (Craig Bellamy) a lot of points too. He has stayed with that coach a long time.”
Asked whether he will watch the grand final, Watson replied: “I don’t really watch TV. I might look at that, the grand final. I was there for the first (game), should watch the last – you’re probably right. If it comes to mind, I might watch it.
THE SWITCH
Brad McLennan taught Cameron Smith at Marsden State School. He remembers a kid with a sunny disposition who would walk around all day juggling a football from one hand to the other.
“As a primary school kid, as a 10 and 11 year old at Marsden State School, everywhere he wandered he had a football in his hands,” McLennan said.
“I can’t even recall him not having one. He used to flick it from one hand to the other. He was obsessed by it.
“All I can remember is this kid with beautiful, silky hands. It was like the ball was an extension to his body.
“A really lovely kid, a humble kid, well liked. A smart kid too. Cameron didn’t have to rely on a football to make his way in life although that was always his dream.”
Smith and McLennan drifted apart but when they were reunited, McLennan played a crucial role in Smith’s career. Smith had played most his junior footy at lock or in the halves but McLennan was infatuated by the way he could read and dictate a game.
Wayne Smith takes up the story.
“He (McLennan) said, ‘Cam they don’t have too many hookers round the schoolboys this year, I reckon you are a chance of making the Queensland schoolboys if you have a run at hooker’,” Wayne Smith said.
“And he did. All his club footy he played lock or five-eighth, but every rep team he got picked at hooker.”
McLennan was the first to see something others didn’t. The rest is history. Smith became the greatest No 9 the game has ever seen, some would argue the best player full stop.
“I had made a move over to Logan Brothers from another club to coach that particular team,” McLennan said.
“There was about 45 or 50 kids for one or two teams. There was a lot of pressure in getting all that stuff right, making sure the right kids made the right team.
“There was a young fella who was playing hooker in their side the year before who was a great kid. But Cameron’s defensive innateness and workload was outrageous.
“He was playing in the halves because he could run a game as a 13 or 14 year old. He just had the ability to be able to see the game before everyone else in terms of it unfolding.
“I just thought with your defensive work rate, and beautiful hands and vision, you would make an unbelievable hooker. You have never seen a 14 or 15 year old kid who could go to dummy half, eyes up, look where he needed to go.
“He had an incredible ability to take both the markers out of play. It was outrageous. I always thought he would be a top player. I loved the kid he ended up replacing so it put some strain on relationships.
“It all worked out for the best.”
Even then, it took some convincing for Smith to crack the state side. He had missed out at primary school but McLennan lobbied hard and he found his way into a Maroons jersey.
“We would come up with game plans together at 15 or 16 years of age and he would execute them,” McLennan said.
“His teammates loved him and they followed him. He was one of them, he could literally run a game and more importantly he could change the running of a game as he saw things unfold.
“He didn’t need messages – he could see it. They overlooked him when he was a young fella. I went to Kingaroy with him when he was a 15 year old.
“He was in the Met East team playing in the state championship. I think we came third in the carnival – he was outstanding.
“They pulled all the coaches in for a meeting after every day to find out which players you wanted to push. They never had him in the top two hookers. I stood up and said, ‘are you blokes watching the same games I am watching because you are overlooking the star of the carnival’.
“I can remember being so frustrated. One of the blokes who was my regional manager said just tell them, don’t leave anything out. In the end, thank God, they reconvened and he ended up making that state team.
“That was the start of his rep football at the highest level. He never looked back after that.”
THE SIGNING
Anthony Griffin, then working as the Melbourne Storm’s eyes and ears in Queensland, first laid eyes on Smith when he was playing for Logan Brothers in an under 16 grand final.
Smith was also being pursued by a handful of rival teams at the time, including the Brisbane Broncos.
“Someone just gave us a tip,” Griffin recalled.
“I went and watched him play – he was playing five-eighth at the time for Logan Brothers. I think he kicked a field goal to win a grand final for them.
“We started tracking him. Then the next year – he played a bit of lock as well – he ended up at hooker for Brisbane at the state carnival.
“We thought he was really good and made a decision then to try to sign him. The Broncos were in there as well. He played exactly like he plays now. He looked really awkward because he was obviously a step ahead of everyone else.
“He had a really good kicking game. He looked a level above him. He knew what he was trying to do, stepping out and trying to draw markers and give kids lines to run.”
The Storm flew Smith and his family to Melbourne to give him a taste of the club. He met John Ribot and Chris Johns, the club’s former chair and chief executive. He spent time with Chris Anderson, then the coach.
“There was only ever two options when he was going to sign,” Wayne Smith said.
“He had plenty of offers like Canterbury and Canberra. But it was only ever going to be the Broncos or Melbourne, simply because he would be able to stay in Brissie as a 17-year-old.
“At the time we sat down and had a think about it. (Former Brisbane hooker) Luke Priddis was 23 or 24, NSW hooker, for all intents and purposes he was there until he was 30-odd.
“The pathway wasn’t there. Where Swainy (Storm hooker Richard Swain) was 28. We were thinking stay in Queensland, play a few years up here and he would have the maturity to leave home.
“Greg Brentnall was the (Storm) footy manager and he was massive. Just a gentleman. They showed it was like a family club – none of the players were from there and they were very close and looked after each other, which is what happened with Matty Geyer and Cam.
“I think it was fortunate Craig (Bellamy) and Cam crossed paths at the right time. It has gone on, (head of football) Frank Ponissi – what a great guy. All the staff are tremendous people.
“You get your morals and ethics growing up but there is a lot of growing up between 18 and 25. That is when you get your life skills as a man. We were really fortunate that Cam was in that environment with good people around him.”
The highlight of that trip to Melbourne?
“We were down for a couple of days because they showed us around,” Wayne Smith said.
“Cam got a fan photo with Brett Kimmorley. He loved him. Funny hey.”
They still had to get Smith’s name on a contract and when the Storm got the deal done, it was a bittersweet moment for the future Queensland and Australian star.
Smith had been picked to play in a possibles against probables selection trial for Queensland. The morning of that game he signed on the dotted line with the Storm. The game was at Wynnum and the Queensland side was due to be picked at the end of the trial. Smith missed out.
“He was absolutely devastated that night,” Griffin said.
“In those days they would name the team in the sheds straight after the game. Me and Mark Murray, who worked for the Storm in Brisbane, are standing outside with Wayne all happy.
“We have the contract in an envelope in our hand. He came out and looked like his world had ended. He looked shattered.
“I remember the old line don’t worry mate, there will be plenty more rep sides to make, not knowing there would be that many.
“We got that right anyway. There were plenty more rep sides for him.”
THE LEGACY
Wayne Smith doesn’t pretend to know what his son is about to do. Few people in this world know Cameron better, yet even he is in the dark. He expects his son to get the grand final out the way and then make a call on his future.
“What he never does is make decisions on emotion,” Wayne Smith said.
“Whatever he decides – whether he wants to play again or doesn’t – he will probably make that decision two weeks after the final whether they win or lose.
“He usually gives me a call on the day off and we will have a chat. Under normal circumstances like an Origin. I would go and have a coffee with him. You can’t do that with the bubble.
“In the big scheme of things, some people haven’t been able to live with dying loved ones. When you get it into perspective, while it is disappointing, gee whiz it is not that bad.”
His impending departure has reignited the debate over whether Smith is the greatest player of all time. It is a question that polarises, much like Smith himself has done in recent years. Some sections of the Sydney media seem to relish making Smith a whipping boy.
“The best thing about him is I have only run into him a few times since then across our travels but he is the same guy now he was back then,” Griffin said.
“He is a simple guy. He lived with me for a week when he made his (first grade) debut as a halfback. Matt Orford had got hurt and Marty Turner had got hurt as well.
“We decided to take a punt on him because we knew he had played in the halves before. When he came down – I don’t know why, my wife must have been away – I had an empty house so he lived with me for the week until his mum and dad came down on the Friday.
“In my opinion he is the guy who has had the most influence over games. The greatest captain and greatest footballer so to speak. He has always been one step ahead of everyone.
“He has played 10 grand finals, 50 Tests, broken the Origin record (for appearances), he was the captain for most of that streak for Queensland, the Storm wouldn’t have been in as many finals or won as many minor premierships if he wasn’t there.
“At that stage of their career it is like playing chess in slow motion. You see Cameron now, he is not one play ahead of everyone, he is one set ahead of everyone. He never makes an error.
“He handles the ball and comes up with so many big plays for his club. I can’t remember a time when he has a bad game.”
Long-time teammate Billy Slater is as bemused as anyone by the criticism that has shadowed Smith in recent years.
“People talk about the greatest player to play the game,” Slater said.
“I struggle to identify that because there are so many different positions with different skill sets. How can you compare Cameron Smith to Arthur Beetson and even Andrew Johns for that matter.
“He has done it for so long and he plays at a consistently high level no matter what stage it is, whether it is a trial match or a State of Origin game at Suncorp.
“His work ethic is fantastic. He has put so much into his career and it all comes down to him loving he game of footy.
“There are people out there who criticise him and I really don’t know what it is for. The people who criticise him mustn’t know him – they mustn’t know who he is or how hard he works.
“I don’t get it.”
The best parts of Smith’s game can sometimes he hard to appreciate. Those with an eye for the game see how he subtlety pulls opposition apart, biding his time until he can land the killer blow. It is death by a thousand cuts
“You can never get him,” one rival coach said.
“You spend all week working on your markers and ‘A’ defenders to shut him down and he will just sit on you and know when you are vulnerable.
“He wouldn’t try too hard to get you until he knew. You could feel it. You just knew he was going to get you. You can have a night where you could shut JT (Johnathan Thurston) or Cooper (Cronk) down.
“You could design a defensive energy and strategy to shut those guys down. But you can never get Cameron.“
You ask Wayne whether his son is the greatest player of all time. It’s a loaded question. How can Wayne be anything but biased?
“Be in the grand final with Wally (Lewis),” Wayne said.
“But again, different eras mate. Has he had an influence on the game? Absolutely he has. They change the rules because of players – stripping the ball, Alfie Langer. The captain’s challenge is probably the Cameron Smith challenge isn’t it.
“If they have to listen to him, they have to listen to everyone. If you want to have a look at influence on the game, have a look over the last 15 years and the standings in the Dally Ms.
“If he doesn’t win it, he is usually in the top 10 and more often than not the top five. I don’t know how many people have been that good for that long.”
You get the feeling Wayne is more proud of the man his son has become than the footballer he is. For all the criticism of Smith from Sydney media, and the vitriol that is sometimes directed his way from the stands, Smith will walk away from rugby league with a resume unlike any in the game’s history.
No-one has played more games in the premiership. He played 42 games for Queensland and 56 Tests for Australia. He dominated State of Origin, leading the Maroons on a winning streak that featured 10 series wins in 11 years.
He won six man of the match awards and four Wally Lewis medals as player of the series. Over that time, you could count his bad games on one hand.
“What drives Cam and it has always is the fact he never wants to let anyone down – that is his teammates especially,” Wayne Smith said.
“He doesn't want anyone to say to him you didn’t have a dig today mate. That is what drives him – that he comes off the field and didn’t leave anything out there.
“Not just for him, but for his teammates. He is very smart. Even that semi-final the other night, he doesn’t do things until he has too.
“He is happy for the young guys to do their thing. He will get them to the part of the park where they can do their thing and create a tempo in the game that enhances their talent.
“Ask his peers. That’s all you have to do. Ask his peers. Joey Johns and JT, they say he is the best they have ever seen. I think JT said, when you are playing with Cam, you get the feeling you will never lose.“
More Coverage
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout