Inglis was signed by the Storm when playing footy in Newcastle, and continued to play for Hunter Sports High and Wests Rosellas (in the Newcastle local comp) until he fell in with the wrong sort of people and the Storm moved him to Brisbane, and linked him up with their feeder club at the time, Norths.
I think I read in an article about Slater a week or two ago that he drove down to Brisbane (from Innisfail) to trial for Norths...and then the rest is history. There may be a little more to this story, but I think it was fortunate for the Storm that Slater showed his potential in the coming years right under their noses.
Edit: I just hit up the wiki page for Slater and I think I was reading it

and that part in particular is unsourced so it potentially could be a load of rubbish.
Not sure about Cronk and Smith, though I know Smith is from Logan.