So what the hell is going on with Cam Smith, then?

[moto748]

Can anyone explain?

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[Gigantic]

Just announced that he has officially retired

 

[NSWCROW]

Probably have more respect for him than any other player i've seen....but * me, what a diva

 

[Santana]

Thanks for the memories, Cam

 

[royboy2]

I would have thought they would have at least shown the sculptor a picture of what Cam looked like

 

[royboy2]

 

[royboy2]

View attachment 1074195

Probably have more respect for him than any other player i've seen....but fu** me, what a diva

Interesting article this one

Smith deserves to be remembered as a champion – but not as one of the great blokes

• March 10, 2021 5:02pm
• JAMES HOOPER

No question Cameron Smith will be celebrated, remembered and revered as one of the greatest rugby league players to ever lace a boot.
It’s a shame he won’t also be championed as one of the all-round great blokes.
Few Australian Kangaroos captains have polarised public opinion like the Melbourne Storm skipper.
Smith was a serial winner whose ice-cool nerve in big games bordered on sociopathic.

But despite two decades, 430 NRL matches, 56 Test matches for Australia and 42 State of Origins from Queensland, did we ever get to know the real Cameron?

The three-time premiership-winner will rightfully go down as one of the greatest players of all time due to his durability and longevity in one of the NRL’s most unforgiving positions.
But walk into any pub and ask the front bar their thoughts on the former Queensland and Australian captain and you’re guaranteed to spark fierce debate.

An elusive customer on the field, in many ways Smith proved just as elusive off it.
His reluctance to return text messages from some of the biggest names in rugby league over the last three months is a classic case in point.
There is no doubt Smith’s penchant for lecturing referees to the point of standing over match officials polarised fans.
Was he a protected species because of his lofty standing in the game? One hundred per cent.
His reluctance to ever really own what happened during the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal of 2010 is another highly divisive subject.
Did he or did he not sign two contracts? Smith has never answered the question.
As for his fall out with great mate Cooper Cronk – there’s another cryptic riddle wrapped inside the Smith enigma.
The wishy-washy jibber-jabber offered up in his recent memoir only made things worse. What drivel.
Then there was the way he mastered the art of generally trying to jiu-jitsu the living daylights out of opponents to the point of submission.
Smith often moans about missing the 2008 grand final after being suspended for trying to pull Sam Thaiday’s head off.
In the fair dinkum stakes he’s lucky Thaiday is as tough as he is.
Would any other player have got away with his ear pulling antics on Raiders players Bailey Simonsson in 2019? Unlikely.
Or who could forget the grubby knee into the back of an injured Raiders centre Jarrod Croker’s knee in the 2016 finals series? Cheap shot.

Cameron Smith’s ugly ear pull on Bailey Simonsson in 2019.
His allies and acolytes claim Smith is a misunderstood, laid-back champion Queenslander who longs for the quiet life away from the cameras with his family.
His enemies counter he is a cold, calculated, closed book who can be arrogant and aloof.
Wherever you stand, one thing for certain; Smith is probably the greatest serial winner rugby league has ever produced.

 

[moto748]

On a thread commemorating Smith on a Wigan forum, someone remarked,


And easy........ controlled a game without hardly ever getting tackled

and I said,

I guess that makes him even better than Badger, Cummins, Sutton...