Cameron Smith is the greatest rugby league player ever.

[Bring back John Fifita]

No stitch up at all

I’ve seen the footage and heard what he said

how do you justify his actions as showing concern for Alex?

Nines backflip had more to do about concern for their nrl programs than anything else

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp...still-playing-the-victim-20170916-gyiwgs.html

Do you have some sort of justification for his role in the biggest cheating episode in the games history ? Or was signing multiple contracts also class?

Well for starters “hovering over a player” as you suggest isn’t because he isn’t concerned...

I also have seen the footage and heard what he said. I’ve got no issue with it unlike you. Can agree to disagree. I’m not here to change your view. I’ve just got my own that doesn’t match yours. Opinions aren’t facts and too many people mix those up.

As for salary cap, so you can 100% prove Cameron smith was behind/across the systematic cheating of the Salary cap.... or are of you the view that “he MUST have known what was going on”...?

 

[taxidriver]

Well for starters “hovering over a player” as you suggest isn’t because he isn’t concerned...

I also have seen the footage and heard what he said. I’ve got no issue with it unlike you. Can agree to disagree. I’m not here to change your view. I’ve just got my own that doesn’t match yours. Opinions aren’t facts and too many people mix those up.

As for salary cap, so you can 100% prove Cameron smith was behind/across the systematic cheating of the Salary cap.... or are of you the view that “he MUST have known what was going on”...?

Im of the camp that if you sign multiple documents you should be aware of what your signing

I’m also of the camp that if you’re getting you’re home Reno pid for by club , outside your contract , you’d know that as well

at least he’s acknowledged it was an issue and apologised, oh sorry that never happened either

 

[nick87]

Smith is the best player of the fully professional well payed era. The era where from a teenager all you have to do is play football and be prepared by sports science to be a footballer. When you have that support and the knowledge that you've got a good income you can play as long as you're good/fit enough.

So very unfair to the great semi professional players who came before him to be compared to him and the Cronks etc really

This is a really good point and I agree with it entirely
He’s the best player I’ve ever seen... hard to compare eras against a time where the code was transitioning to a full time profession from teenage years, and harder still to compare to players in an era where they had second jobs

he’ll never be loved because the implications of his involvement in the salary cap issue and the McKinnon thing. I personally have more concerns about the cap thing than McKinnon

But I absolutely love watching the guy play and ill miss it if this is to be his last game.

 

[mave]

Yeah, I'm going to miss Cam about as much as I miss Greenburg and Gallop.

 

[Perth Red]

All I know is we are in another grand final and he has led us there yet again. Yeh baby!

 

[typicalfan]

I do like how he makes the media squirm. Would laugh if he says one more year and we are doing this all over again. He is still one of the best players in the comp right now.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

If he had never done those chiropractic moves chicken wing Greco Roman wrestling, i would consider him one of the greats, you never saw Lockyer, Stuart, Fittler , Johns , Thurston. Do those things..

That's exactly why I cannot stand Cam. I find him to be a charlatan in how he talks smoothly to the media, yet does all sorts of grubby shit on the field. At least Gallen had the decency to not pretend to be an angel when he grabbed nuts and dug his fingers into wounds. Plus Gallen knocked that shit off as he got older, so I can respect him. If Smith changed his ways then I would respect him too.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

All I know is we are in another grand final and he has led us there yet again. Yeh baby!

We?

So you don't need a Perth team after all?

Good, well I guess you will quit your whinging, yeah?

 

[Bazal]

I'll never understand how people, especially Melbourne and QLD fans, don't get that you can respect his achievements as a player but also think he is abject filth. But then I'll never understand the kind of blinkers that allow you to accept some of the shit he goes on with either.

He's been an incredible footballer but his legacy will be defined by more than that, and so it should be. There is more to being the GOAT than just the way you play.

And that is why Bradley Parker holds that honour.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

By many but not me..

I don’t necessarily hate Thurston but often he carried on like a toddler on the field. And off it. He’s not the only one in that regard and there’s plenty of toddlers running around in the modern game - who I can’t stand. But Thurston did have an element class about him which did help me “Overlook” his occasional tantrums.

Smith however is by far and away the best player ever in my opinion. And the classiest.

He never (unlike Thurston...) ,
- whinged after a loss. He’s more matter of fact and has been as gracious as it gets (eg Sharks GF win, his speech to the Sharks fans was all class).
- Blames (or whinges at referees). A magnificent influencer, but never loses composure. Paul Kent recently put it best, saying how the likes of Moses carry on like a child when talking to the ref, while Smith rolls up like James Bond ordering a martini..

He’s won everything in rugby league there is. On multiple occasions in many cases. He’s an absolute winner.

And just because he doesn’t play for my team, but a team much loathed by many, doesn’t mean I don’t respect the bloke. And since he retired from origin I’ve grown to more appreciate, even “love” Smith as the best player in the game on so many fronts.

Smith is a cheat in every sense of the word.

I'll never forget a game between my Cowboys and the vile Storm at Lang Park in 2016. Melbourne were crowding the ruck and taking an eternity to roll off the tackled player. The ref, for once, penalised them. Smith threw an almighty tantrum that was clearly dissent, almost going as far as to accuse the referee of favouritism while yelling like a 2yo brat. Not only was he not binned, the referee stopped penalising Melbourne's indiscretions in the ruck, which allowed them to get on top. At the end of the game Thurston had a shot at field goal to level the score, but Smith, who never got back square at marker, ran out from a clearly offside position before the ball cleared the ruck. It should have been a penalty to Cowboys, with a conversion right in front of the posts for the win on full-time. The referee allowed play to continue. Thurston never whined about it.

Smith doesn't really know what it's like to fight tooth and nail all your life and be robbed or come up short. He did lose 3 Origin series between 03-05 and the 06 GF before he tasted success, but he was still young and had many opportunities ahead of him.

 

[stryker]

They don’t “taint” his legacy, they define it

Only to some.
His legacy is talent, perseverance and toughness. Ultimate professional and winner.

 

[The_Frog]

I do like how he makes the media squirm. Would laugh if he says one more year and we are doing this all over again. He is still one of the best players in the comp right now.

I think he might go to the Gold Coast for a farewell tour and bank balance boost, just like Wally.

 

[Generalzod]

That's exactly why I cannot stand Cam. I find him to be a charlatan in how he talks smoothly to the media, yet does all sorts of grubby shit on the field. At least Gallen had the decency to not pretend to be an angel when he grabbed nuts and dug his fingers into wounds. Plus Gallen knocked that shit off as he got older, so I can respect him. If Smith changed his ways then I would respect him too.

Yep like you I see through all of that.....

 

[taxidriver]

Only to some.
His legacy is talent, perseverance and toughness. Ultimate professional and winner.

So if he’s a good footballer you disregard everything else about him?

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Smith is the best player of the fully professional well payed era. The era where from a teenager all you have to do is play football and be prepared by sports science to be a footballer. When you have that support and the knowledge that you've got a good income you can play as long as you're good/fit enough.

So very unfair to the great semi professional players who came before him to be compared to him and the Cronks etc really

Wally Lewis is the best I've ever seen. He controlled the tempo of the game and changed matches through ball-playing and ball-running. He was a great defender and fast. He did all of this while playing in a competition that wasn't as professionalised as its southern counterpart. To do what he did, against players who earned more and had better resources, is nothing short of incredible.

Combined Brisbane's victory in the National Knock-Out competition in the mid 80s has to be the proudest moment in the history of Queensland RL. Without Lewis it wouldn't have happened. Then there's that game in 88 or 89 when Queensland were down to just 12 players at the SCG/SFS, and Lewis led the team to victory. Finest performance in Origin history. Even the Sydney public stood up and applauded.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Only to some.
His legacy is talent, perseverance and toughness. Ultimate professional and winner.

I thought his legacy was that game at Kogarah?

I don't usually laugh when a bloke cops it in the nuts, but the Kogarah incident was a classic case of karma. Smith has spent his career injuring players through unethical wrestling holds. He influences the referees to turn a blind eye to his and his team mates' shit, which has gifted the Storm plenty of games. He was standing in an offside position at the time of the incident, beside the ruck, and using his elbow to apply pressure to Latimore's neck to prevent a quick PTB. Latimore just tried to get the grub away from his neck and couldn't even see where his hand went as his eyes were parallel to the grass. The funniest and most poetic bit of it is the St George dummy half ran through the vacant marker position that Smith would have been in if he wasn't cheating and grubbing it up, to score a try that turned out to be the difference between the two teams at full time. That sort of luck is usually with the Storm.

 

[Generalzod]

We?

So you don't need a Perth team after all?

Good, well I guess you will quit your whinging, yeah?

Lol

 

[stryker]

So if he’s a good footballer you disregard everything else about him?

Look you don’t like him, I do.
Neither of us are changing our minds so that’s that.

 

[Rhino_NQ]

His chin has a butthole

 

[stryker]

I thought his legacy was that game at Kogarah?

I don't usually laugh when a bloke cops it in the nuts, but the Kogarah incident was a classic case of karma. Smith has spent his career injuring players through unethical wrestling holds. He influences the referees to turn a blind eye to his and his team mates' shit, which has gifted the Storm plenty of games. He was standing in an offside position at the time of the incident, beside the ruck, and using his elbow to apply pressure to Latimore's neck to prevent a quick PTB. Latimore just tried to get the grub away from his neck and couldn't even see where his hand went as his eyes were parallel to the grass. The funniest and most poetic bit of it is the St George dummy half ran through the vacant marker position that Smith would have been in if he wasn't cheating and grubbing it up, to score a try that turned out to be the difference between the two teams at full time. That sort of luck is usually with the Storm.

Cute story. I still think he’s the goat and will be cheering him on next weekend. You don’t/won’t and that’s cool.