Smith weighing up retirement call
CAMERON Smith’s desire to mentor Melbourne’s next generation of stars could be the driving force for him to play another NRL season.
Smith refused to guarantee that he’d take up an option in his contract to extend his career into a 19th season, after Saturday’s preliminary final loss to the Sydney Roosters.
Instead, the veteran hooker confirmed he’d spend the beginning of the off-season deciding whether he wanted to play on in 2020 beyond his 37th birthday.
The Storm captain is yet to speak to coach Craig Bellamy about the situation, with the scenario mimicking that of the past two summers.
“I don’t know (if I’ll play on),” Smith said.
“Just thinking about the result tonight. Obviously very disappointed. We wanted to go one extra week.
“My thoughts all year have been to play on next year. That’s probably where I’m at the moment.
“But that might change over the next little period where I have got some time off to think about some things and weigh up what’s happening next year.
“You’ve got to let the emotion simmer down a little bit. Because you don’t want to go making rash decisions off the back of a difficult result.”
Without confirming it though, Smith has given every indication he’ll go again. He is now reinvigorated by the added challenge of guiding through Melbourne’s young guns as the only remaining member of the old guard.
“It is (a driving factor),” Smith said. “The injection of a lot of youth and inexperienced players into the club over two or three years has given me a bit of an extra bounce in my step. Just trying to help these guys evolve into consistent first graders.”