It came as no surprise really, when rugby league champion Cameron Smith formally announced his retirement yesterday at the unveiling of his bronze statue outside Melbourne's AAMI Park. It was well known that when the Storm were forced to relocate to the Sunshine Coast last year, Smith moved his family back to Queensland. The only remaining possibility of extending his illustrious career was a short playing stint with either the Broncos or Titans. Smith decided instead to make the 2020 Grand Final victory his last NRL appearance, stepping out, fittingly, at the pinnacle of club football.
The announcement brings to an end the career of arguably the greatest player to ever grace a rugby league field, a man who at once dazzled and infuriated, depending on which side your loyalties rested. The ultimate competitor, he racked up 430 first grade games, all of them for Melbourne Storm. If you weren't a Storm fan you begrudgingly admired his abilities, while feeling painfully aggrieved by his ability to push the limits of every rule, eking out every slight advantage for his team.
If you were a Storm fan you celebrated Smith's ability to interact with match officials, ensuring your team received a fair hearing during the run of play. Everyone else berated Smith's overt influence on the way the game was officiated, his perceived badgering of referees giving the Storm an advantage they didn't deserve. His was a presence that only a Storm fan could love.
For Queensland he was nothing short of a hero, a man central to the most sustained period of dominance in State of Origin history. If you're a New South Welshman, you invariably hated all that Smith represented. He was simply too good, he knew it and he missed no opportunity to celebrate the fact, grinding down the spirit and resolve of the most loyal Blues fans.
Finally, when representing Australia, here was a man we could all love, regardless of state or club affiliations. He took that same competitive ferocity, that same kit bag of unparalleled skills and bound by his national pride did everything in his power to lead his country to victory. Even if he still managed to test the tenuous affection of many by leading the occasional post-Test rendition of the Queensland victory song.
Smith stepped aside from representative duties in his final years to give what remained in his seemingly inexhaustible fuel tank to the Storm. And it proved fruitful, with last year's premiership victory as unexpected as it was almost inevitable. Everyone thought the Storm would fade from the top of the NRL ladder with the retirements of Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk. With Smith at the helm and coach Craig Bellamy pulling the strings, the Storm managed to move on with barely a slip in their long-running success.
It would have been a great finale for Smith to be chaired off ANZ Stadium after bidding farewell with the premiership trophy under his arm, but he genuinely wasn't sure of what his future held at that heady point in time. Smith has come under criticism for the slowness of his retirement announcement, but in reality, all Smith needed to do was make the right call for himself and his family, he owed the media, the fans and the game nothing.
"I tried to pick the brains of my mates like Billy (Slater) about how they came to the conclusion it was the right time to finish their playing career," Smith said.
"But once I spent good quality time with my family up in Queensland I knew that it was the right time to finish and it gives me time to enjoy what's going to be the next chapter of my life.
"I've just been trying to spend as much time as I can with my kids and wife and we go paddle-boarding and I get to take them to school and pick them up and attend things in their life that I wasn't able to do when I was playing rugby league."
Smith will go down as the most prolific player in the history of rugby league. His unquestionable dominance at club, state and international level only enhanced by the toughness of the position he played. The middle of a rugby league field is not a place where someone typically carves out such a long and influential career. Smith has somehow avoided major injury setbacks while revolutionising the hooker role in steering his club, state and nation to enviable success.
You don't have a career like Smith's without knowing your body's every ache and niggle. You also don't reach the top of the game as Smith has without having an intimate understanding of the level at which you are contributing. You can avoid injury through good management and a large dose of luck, but nothing stops the advance of time. Smith at 80 percent of his best would still good enough to play first grade, but champions like Smith aren't satisfied with playing at a diminished level. And so he leaves on top, his legacy untarnished by the slight of playing one season too many.
Could Smith have done a Tom Brady? Walk away from his club and longtime coach to lead a team like the Titans to a title in his first year there? We'll never know, but having watched Smith throughout his career, I would not have been surprised if he had.