Smith’s key to captaincy

Retired Maroons great offers leadership advice

CAMERON Smith has stopped short of nominating his preference for Queensland State of Origin skipper but thinks the Maroons should opt for someone with captaincy experience.

The longtime Queensland captain until he quit representative football before last year’s series, Smith was still coming to terms with the sudden retirement of 2018 first-choice skipper Greg Inglis.

Inglis, 32, bowed out last week, citing a lost passion for the week-to-week grind of the NRL for South Sydney.

But Smith felt the Maroons had some suitable candidates as they looked to wrest the Origin title back from NSW.

“I’m still digesting Greg not being a part of the Origin side,” Smith said yesterday.

“There’s a few candidates that are available to the team and to Kevin (coach Kevin Walters) – Michael Morgan, Daly Cherry-Evans and I think Cameron Munster’s name has been thrown about.”

With seasoned stars like Johnathon Thurston and Billy Slater also off the Origin scene, Smith (pictured) believes Queensland should opt for a player who already had leadership experience.

That puts North Queensland captain

Morgan and the Sea Eagles’ CherryEvans in the front-running.

Souths coach and long-time Maroons mentor Wayne Bennett has already endorsed Manly skipper Cherry-Evans as the “logical choice”.

“I’d probably lean towards someone with a bit of experience in the captaincy role or leadership role,” Smith said.

“I couldn’t really throw someone’s name up at the moment because I haven’t thought about it too much.”

Titans leader Jarrod Wallace and emerging gun Jai Arrow – both part of the losing Origin series last year – had both been mentioned in dispatches as possible options.