Smith blasts powder players
MELBOURNE legend Cameron Smith has launched a stinging attack on his former teammates, lashing Cameron Munster and Brandon Smith as “dumb” for their roles in the Storm’s white-powder scandal.
Smith, the code’s mostcapped servant with 430 NRL games, delivered a no-holdsbarred attack on Munster, Smith and Chris Lewis for tarnishing the Storm’s reputation he spent 20 years helping to build.
Smith also took aim at Melbourne management, accusing the club of failing to act proactively when the Herald Sun exclusively revealed the Storm trio were being investigated by the NRL integrity unit.
Smith said he was shattered by the revelations and condemned Munster and Smith, with whom he won last year’s NRL premiership, for tainting the famous legacy built by a host of Storm legends.
“For those players to go out and make such a dumb choice, it is really disappointing,” Smith said on SEN radio.
“I’d like to think they’re smarter than the way they’ve acted.
“To allow outsiders into a room and they’ve got phones out filming … it’s mind-boggling to see these guys make these poor choices.
“It’s taken a long time for people to build the club and have it held in such high regard across all sports and you’ve got guys wanting to make dumb choices and they can bring it all down in an instant. “That’s what annoys me. “I am extremely disappointed with what I’ve seen and was told had happened post that preliminary final.
“I haven’t been a part of the club this year, I wasn’t playing there, but they are former teammates of mine and I am very proud of what myself, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Ryan Hoffman, Dallas Johnson and many other players created.
“Even before us guys like Matt Geyer and Robbie Kearns … all these great players, what they sacrificed and what they put into the organisation to make it what it is.
“In the first few years, very few people wanted Melbourne Storm in the competition. They didn’t want us to survive, but all those players and staff members who moved away to be in Melbourne, they forged on and persevered and they built the club into what is considered one of the greatest sporting organisations in this country.
“I am being completely honest. It is extremely, extremely disappointing.”
The NRL is set to throw the book at Munster, Smith and Lewis, who face fines of up to $40,000 and suspensions of two to four games for their hotel-room antics.
Storm is launching its own investigation and is also set to dish out financial penalties.
Smith said the sight of a sheepish Munster and Smith at the Dally M Awards was embarrassing and he criticised Storm bosses for not fronting the media immediately.