Cooper Cronk was not happy with Cameron Smith

THEY get along like a married couple on their honeymoon, but one Cameron Smith act really upset Melbourne halfback Cooper Cronk.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 11: Cooper Cronk of the Storm walks off after a loss during the round six NRL match between the Melbourne Storm and the Canterbury Bulldogs at AAMI Park on April 11, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Robert Prezioso/Getty Images)

COOPER Cronk and Cameron Smith are the perfect couple.

The hooker and halfback have steered the Melbourne Storm to premiership glory, Queensland to State of Origin wins and Australia to World Cup triumphs. They can do no wrong.

As crucial parts of their teams’ spine, the two have a seemingly telepathic connection that allows them to combine effortlessly to dictate games and set up scoring opportunities.

But on Sunday there was proof their relationship wasn’t always as rosy as it appeared.

Playing against the Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval, the clash went into golden point extra time when the home side levelled the scores up at 18-all with just a couple of minutes remaining.

Three-and-a-half minutes into the first half of extra time, the Storm had marched their way deep into Tigers territory and looked for all money to be lining up to send the ball to Cronk to take a shot at a field goal.

The Melbourne general is the go-to man in these pressure situations, having won plenty of games both at club and representative level by slotting one-pointers when needed.

So when a Storm player played the ball in front of the uprights 20 metres out from the Tigers’ line, Cronk was deep and slightly to the right of the ruck ready to take his shot.

But the pass never came.

Instead Smith, at dummy-half, slipped to his left and took a shot himself. It was a horrible effort, barely getting off the ground as it grubbered its way over the dead ball line to give the Tigers a 20m restart.

Cronk was visibly upset with his captain, shaking his head and gesturing with his arms to signal he had no idea why Smith took that option.

CRONK WAS DISAPPOINTED IN SMITH WHAT THE HELL CAPTAIN MC CAPTAIN

— Victoria (@yeahvictoriaaa_) April 17, 2016

Cronk is mad @ Smith

— M (@_upthechooks) April 17, 2016

Cooper Cronk in absolutely beautiful position for the field goal... Cam Smith goes from dummy half and its AWFUL https://t.co/YmAVlb9ISe

— League Unlimited NRL (@LeagueUnlimited) April 17, 2016

@RLW_Mole friction between Cronk & Smith? This drop goal shootout is #boring hit the 🎯

— Sean Opie (@kiwisean1) April 17, 2016

Fortunately for the visitors, Smith’s miss didn’t come back to haunt them, as they took the smarter option the next time they got within range for a field goal.

With just seconds remaining in the first stanza, Cronk took charge and nailed his attempt from 40m out to give Melbourne a 19-18 win.

He was clearly an unhappy man at the time, but Cronk learnt to forgive his skipper.

“Smithy felt something (when he tried a field goal) and I’ve got his back all the time so that’s alright,” Cronk said after the match.

The loss was the Tigers’ fifth on the trot.

The Storm looked headed for victory after dubious tries to debutant Suliasi Vunivalu and Marika Koroibete before a late four-pointer to Kevin Naiqama and penalty goal to Jordan Rankin evened things up.

The ice man.

The Tigers could count themselves unlucky after Vunivalu scored a controversial four-pointer in the 53rd minute to reclaim the lead for the Storm.

In the lead up Vunivalu collected Tigers fullback James Tedesco with a high shot which dislodged the ball and the Storm ran downfield to score.

When Vunivalu crossed in the right corner for his second of the day, Tedesco was still 50 metres behind the play with a head injury.

The Tigers would have been questioning why the play was allowed to go on after Vunivalu was subsequently put on report and Tedesco left the field temporarily for a concussion test.

A Marika Koroibete try five minutes later put the visitors further in front. However, the Ben Hampton pass in the lead up looked forward.

Storm prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona should have been sin-binned for a second half trip on Tedesco which will see him come under the scrutiny of the match review committee.

— with AAP

Originally published as Cooper Cronk was not happy with Cameron Smith