Melbourne Storm clear the air with Cameron Smith after video scandal

Footage appeared to show Cameron Munster and Brandon Smith alongside other people in a room with white powder. The duo and fellow Storm contracted player Chris Lewis have all been interviewed by the NRL Integrity Unit and face hefty fines and suspensions that could rub them out of the start of the 2022 season.

Storm CEO Justin Rodski said in a statement he was “very disappointed” with the situation.

Speaking on SEN radio during the week, Smith — who played 433 games for Melbourne — labelled the players’ behaviour “dumb” and “mind-boggling”. He also took aim at them for putting the Storm’s reputation in jeopardy by inviting questions about the club’s culture that past players had worked so hard to establish.

“They’ve put so much heat and spotlight on the Melbourne Storm as an organisation and the same on their teammates and former players,” Smith said. “That’s the most disappointing thing and the thing that annoys me.

“It’s taken a lot of those people a long period of time to build that organisation and have it held in such a high regard in this country as one of the great sporting organisations not just in rugby league but across all sports in Australia.

“And then you’ve got guys wanting to make dumb choices and that can bring it all down in an instant.”

Smith also clipped his former club for staying silent on the matter too long instead of getting on the front foot and addressing the video publicly sooner than it did.

Storm chairman Tripp said he had spoken to Smith in the wake of his comments to talk over the former captain’s issues, revealing Melbourne was delayed in taking action by the NRL needing to handle its Grand Final preparation amid Queensland’s Covid-19 outbreak.

“I spoke with ‘Smitty’ (Smith) last night, I cleared up a few things that he wasn’t aware of, and he’s more than comfortable with the way the club has handled it,” Tripp told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“We never wanted this to fester, it’s against the Melbourne Storm’s wishes and we would have had this nipped in the bud 24 hours after we became aware of it.

“But the NRL requested we deal with it in-sync with each other. We’re still waiting on their verdict and pushing hard to get a verdict. But they also made it known they have needed to make sure the Grand final goes ahead because of the (Covid) scare up there.

“In terms of Smitty’s criticism of the players, it’s hard to disagree with him. We are disappointed. They are extremely apologetic. You will see on Tuesday how remorseful they are.

“There is zero tolerance at the club, we strive to be better than most, and we need to fix that.”