Smith’s going nowhere despite contract wait
STORM coach Craig Bellamy is adamant Cameron Smith will not be lost to retirement after the grand final as the skipper turned up the heat on Melbourne by admitting: “I don’t have a contract”.
Smith heads into Sunday night’s grand final against the Roosters as a free agent and with no concrete contractual certainty about whether he will be on deck for an 18th season at the Storm in 2019.
While Smith has been keen to play on, he dropped a bombshell in the wake of Melbourne’s defeat of Cronulla last week, raising the prospect of retirement if the Storm win back-to-back titles on Sunday night.
Pressed on his future yesterday, Smith admitted his tenure in Melbourne remained up in the air as the 383-game legend moves tantalisingly closer to the magical 400-match mark.
“I don’t have a contract for next year, so I don’t know,” Smith said.
“I am worried about this week and preparing well and hopefully we play well this week. Whatever happens after the game will happen.”
Asked if he wants another contract, Smith said: “I’ve said this year several times that I would like to play on next year ... but at the moment I’m not in that situation.”
Smith turns 36 next June and with his good mate Billy Slater retiring after Sunday night’s grand final, Melbourne powerbrokers are banking on the skipper to be the last man standing of their Big Three in 2019.
While Smith has yet to officially ink a 12-month extension with the Storm, Bellamy dismissed concerns about his captain’s future, claiming the Maroons champion could even soldier on until 2020.