Brandon Smith comes clean on ‘kick up the a**e’ amid Roosters exit rumours

Under-fire Roosters star Brandon Smith has opened up on his shock axing as the rumour mill grinds into overdrive about his NRL future.

Brandon Smith has opened up on the drama. Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

Brandon Smith has denied he’ll be heading to South Sydney next season as the NRL rumour mill goes into overdrive over after the Roosters star was sensationally dropped last week.

The 28-year-old New Zealand representative’s form has been in the spotlight this season but the drama erupted when the Roosters handed Smith a breach notice after failing to attend his team’s mid-season review.

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Smith took responsibility for the situation, saying he “was out with family and didn’t realise it was on”.

His manager Stan Martin said Smith had “slept in” and claimed it was “not a major breach”.

But it opened the floodgates for speculation with questions over the star’s future arising after he was dropped for his side’s round 15 clash against the Eels over the issue.

Smith will return for the Roosters’ clash against the Bulldogs on Saturday.

Smith admitted he feared his $850,000 contract would be torn up.

Speaking on The Bye Round Podcast with James Graham, Smith confirmed he was not set to join the Rabbitohs despite rumours to the contrary.

“I knew the consequences were coming. I sort of expected it to happen, so when I got told it wasn’t so bad,” Smith said of being dropped.

“There’s only one thing I did see, someone said I was off to the Bunnies which is pretty interesting. That’s not true, just to get that out there.”

It's a rumour that’s resurfaced again in the wake of Damien Cook’s move to the Dragons.

Fox Sports’ James Hooper said he “gets the impression Brandon Smith has worn out his welcome at the Chooks”, adding “I have heard this has been discussed that it is a possibility of happening”.

Braith Anasta asked whether Roosters supremo Nick Politis would let a player go to their greatest rival, which Hooper said is “the million dollar question”.

Hooper suggested the discussion was around whether how much the Roosters would be willing to pay of his wages, which Hooper reported last week was up to $400,000.

However, he questioned if the Roosters would still be willing to fork out such a substantial amount for Smith if he was going to go to South Sydney.

Brandon Smith has dealt with the situation well. Picture by Max Mason-Hubers

Smith revealed his teammates had given him the wake up call he need.

And despite the scuttlebutt, he added he doesn’t hold any particular grudge against the media for reporting the drama.

“At the moment, I’m off socials so I’m not seeing it and I don’t read the paper,” he said.

“You’ve got to take the good days with the bad days and recognise that because you’re in the papers for being bad, it’s because you’re being bad.

“They don’t purposely target you all the time and you’re usually in there for doing something negative, if you can turn that around and do something positive you’re going to get in the papers for doing something positive.

“Journos get a bad rep … they report what’s the hot news and I don’t have any concerns about them writing bad stuff about me because at the moment, I’m not being good enough and I’m not doing what’s up to the Roosters standard.

“The leadership group have told me that, it’s a kick up the a**e like Rads (Victor Radley) said … now it’s about turning those newspaper articles around from something negative to something positive and I can do that through my footy.”

Questions have arisen around the star. Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

Smith’s response comes after Roosters coach Trent Robinson revealed the hooker’s teammates had confronted him with some “hard truths” about his behaviour.

Although Smith has another season remaining on his deal, Robinson said before the Eels clash that he hoped a sit down with club leaders would get the best out of the star.

“You get exposed as a club, you get asked the question, but if you want significant change, it’s a bit like being a parent, how do you discipline and love someone at the same time?” Robinson said.

“That’s what you have to do, but when you do that in our game, it becomes very public. But when you take away the thing that people really thrive off, it often creates change in a better way.

“You can do it privately and ask for change, but until you say ‘hang on, if you don’t value the game, then you don’t play the game’, then that creates the change you want. We really want to support him and get better but it has to come through discipline.”

Robinson said his senior players led the charge in demanding more from Smith with “confronting” feedback rather than “talking behind his back” about their concerns.

Robinson added Smith had handled the situation “in the right way”.

Originally published as Brandon Smith comes clean on ‘kick up the a**e’ amid Roosters exit rumours