‘Accountant’ Smith plays it smart to reach historic milestone

THE most extraordinary thing about Cameron Smith playing 400 NRL games is that he’s so ordinary.

Smith will reach the magical milestone when he leads his Melbourne Storm out against Cronulla at AAMI Park tonight.

While four AFL players have reached 400 games, led by ex-north Melbourne great Brent Harvey (432), Smith is streaks ahead in the NRL stakes.

Ahead of this round, his former teammate Cooper Cronk has tallied the next most with 361 but has already declared his intention to retire at season’s end.

Of others still playing, Sharks captain and rival Paul Gallen, who will miss the game with a glute injury, is seventh on 339 but also plans to retire. South Sydney’s John Sutton is equal 15th with 324 games but is 34 years old.

The NRL record of Smith, who has already signed on for next season and contemplating playing beyond that, may never be broken.

And not to be forgotten, he’s also played three World Club Challenge games, four All Stars games, 42 State of Origins for Queensland and 56 games representing Australia, pushing his game count beyond 500.

Smith’s longevity and durability over 18 seasons – only missing 11 games through injury – can be attributed as much to his game smarts as his athletic ability.

He was cruelly dubbed “a footballer in an accountant’s body” by former teammate Matt Geyer.

A father of three, he doesn’t have bulging muscles, super strength or electric speed and was no schoolboy prodigy.

But he has no peer when it comes to game management – be it his own team, the opposition or the referee. While he doesn’t shirk any work – regularly topping the tackle count – his brains trumps brawn.

Rugby league conditioning guru Alex Corvo, now at the Warriors but at the Storm for 11 of Smith’s seasons, says the former Test hooker’s smarts are key to his success.

“He’s probably the smartest footballer that’s played the game,” said Corvo.