Smith’s blunt message for Storm ‘hot-heads’
Melbourne Storm legend Cameron Smith says his former side turned in a ‘hot-headed’ performance in its preliminary final loss.
Cameron Smith believes the Melbourne Storm played a “hot-headed” brand of footy in its preliminary final loss to the Penrith Panthers.
Coming off an extra week’s break and virtually at full strength, the Storm was tipped to breeze past the Panthers and into a second consecutive grand final.
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Instead, the supposedly burnt-out mountain men ambushed the Melburnians, who were uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball in the 10-6 loss.
Penrith’s defensive resolve frustrated the Storm, who completed at just 69 per cent and were unable to put points on the board until the 62nd minute of the game.
Speaking on SEN, Smith admitted it was difficult to say whether his influence could’ve flipped the script.
“First up, calls saying, ‘If Cameron Smith was there it would’ve been different,’ well, the whole season might’ve been different if I played,” the Storm legend said.
“The Melbourne Storm may not have been in the preliminary final or they may not have won 19 consecutive games.”
Smith said he would have tried to calm the troops down had he been on the park.
“During the match, I feel as though there were moments when they probably played a little bit too hot-headed,” he said.
“They looked like they were gaining some momentum at stages of that match, they were able to get some second-phase play going with some nice offloads.
“But then instead of trying to take some easy metres off the back of offloads, someone would get the ball in their hands and they’d try and throw a 20-metre pass to someone else.
“That would lead to an error, so if I was out there I would’ve just tried to settle things down slightly. That’s the type of player that I was throughout my career.”
Melbourne has won praise this season for managing to maintain its heavyweight status despite losing Smith to retirement.
Smith said he’d been impressed by the Storm’s energetic style of play.
“The way that Melbourne Storm team played this year and the players involved in that side, they played a very upbeat, exciting brand of football that made it hard for opposition teams to beat them,” Smith said.
After the game, not even coach Craig Bellamy could explain the Storm’s inability to play that way in the game that mattered most.
“It’s real hard to take. In attack, it was one of our poorest performances of the year, probably the poorest. It was disappointing,” Bellamy said.
“We trained well during the week. I didn’t see it coming at all.”
The coach said he was nonetheless proud of what his side had achieved in the last two seasons, the bulk of which were spent on the road.
“I can’t be too critical of tonight. Obviously it was disappointing, but what these guys have done for two years … we won a premiership last year and we won a minor premiership this year,” he said.
“Again, it’s major disappointment on how we performed tonight, but I can’t be too critical for what they’ve been through in the last couple of years and the footy that they’ve played.”
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