Smith v Smith: Maori hero ready to shine
He’s not even the best hooker at his own NRL club.
But Brandon Smith showed he has what it takes to be one of the game’s premier rakes by inspiring the Ma¯ ori’s 30-16 win over the Indigenous All Stars on Saturday night.
The nuggety No 9 burrowed over for two late tries to earn man-of-the-match honours in the All Stars game’s return to the
Gold Coast, upstaging some of the NRL’s biggest names.
Not bad for someone who can’t even get a start at Melbourne, let alone earn the Storm No 9 jersey.
Smith has played hooker for New Zealand and now the Ma¯ ori but is stuck behind NRL great Cameron Smith at the Storm.
However, Ma¯ ori co-captain Adam Blair said Smith may just have kick-started a season in which the 23-year-old makes a name for himself.
‘‘He is a different character. He is unique the way he plays,’’ Blair said of Smith, who won the 2019 Best Interchange Player Dally M award.
‘‘The passion that we played with, it rubbed off on everyone and especially him in key moments of the game. You need someone like that to bring that energy, to show that strength that is within – he was hectic.’’
Smith finished with 175m from 13 runs, five tackle busts and four line breaks at Cbus
Super Stadium.
He also broke Indigenous hearts with his solo tries in the 69th and 75th minutes – and it could have been worse. Smith was denied a third try under the posts in the 74th minute.
No wonder Indigenous captain Joel Thompson was happy to see the back of him.
‘‘I don’t want to see him again,’’ Thompson laughed. We spoke about [stopping] him [before the game] but he is a little tank.’’