Bad Billy
Squad Member
Melbourne Storm and New Zealand Test hooker Brandon Smith has been given permission to look for a new club for the 2022 season.
But The Daily Telegraph has reported an email leaked to the paper has gone out to 14 other clubs shopping the 24-year-old star around with only the Gold Coast Titans left off the list.
Fox Sports has speculated the snub could be telling, reporting the club “may not want to deal with the Titans given they have already taken young forward Tino Fa’asuamaleaui” as well as hunting the signatures of Jahrome Hughes, Smith and Cameron Smith.
Cameron Smith’s future has been a hot topic of discussion in 2020 with the Storm and NRL legend’s possible retirement constantly in the news with Brandon Smith and NRL rookie of the year Harry Grant stuck behind the legend.
Grant made a name for himself on loan to the Wests Tigers, while also starring on debut for the Queensland State of Origin side in the decider.
Brandon Smith has been linked closely with the Canterbury Bulldogs after he gave the club an ultimatum if Cameron went around again.
Cameron Smith’s book made waves last month and the 37-year-old revealed that he didn’t want to stand in the way of Smith or Grant.
“There’s no way I’m re-signing for another 12 months if the club is going to lose either Harry or Brandon. I don’t want to see the club struggle in the long term just so I can play one more season.,” he writes in an extract published in The Daily Telegraph.
“I was well aware of Brandon Smith’s and Harry Grant’s situations.
“And I knew that if I chose to play on in Melbourne, it would be hard for the Storm to retain all three of us, even though the club had said time and time again that it could.
“I appreciated that Brandon and Harry were building careers of their own. Brandon has established himself as the New Zealand No. 9, and Harry played 2020 with the Wests Tigers, where he had a standout season.”
The Storm released a statement earlier on Monday that Brandon was contracted for the 2021 season but that the club would seek compensation if he wanted an early release.
“Brandon is a wonderful player and great person to have around the club,” Storm general manager of football Frank Ponissi said.
“Given he is now a premiership player, national representative and has been a valuable asset to our team over the last few years, any move will only be considered with appropriate arrangements put in place.
“The club has shown we are comfortable with negotiating these requests while also maintaining our performance on the field, given we were in the same position with Josh Addo-Carr only 12 months ago.
“We look forward to having Brandon back on the track on January 4 along with his teammates as they prepare for the 2021 season.”
But The Daily Telegraph reported that Brandon’s manager Stan Martin emailed the clubs saying Smith wants to “play exclusively at hooker”.
It added that one club was willing to release a representative prop for Brandon.
The report added that one NRL CEO believes Smith will head to Sydney, saying “I reckon he has a club. He has his buyer. But they are sending it out to everyone in case a club is looking to move a player that might satisfy Melbourne and then the Storm would allow Brandon to leave”.
Smith has quickly become one of the biggest personalities in the NRL with the man known as “Block of Cheese”, “Hectic Cheese” or just plain old “Cheese”, gave one of the all-time post grand final interviews to NSW Origin coach Brad Fittler.
“It was pretty good, I mean I played pretty s**t tonight but I got the ring,” Smith said.
“It’s for sale, I need to pay for all the beers I’m about to drink.
“I can’t wait to take this home to my mum and dad, they sacrificed to put me in this position I’m in so this is definitely for them.
“I can’t wait to get on the piss with all the boys.
“I’ll take anyone as long as they’ll drink a lot.
“We’ll get Christian Welch too drunk to play Origin... (Cameron Munster) will probably do something stupid.”
He then had to be censored after dropping some choice words on Matthew Johns’ SEN show, clearly enjoying his celebrations.
But The Daily Telegraph has reported an email leaked to the paper has gone out to 14 other clubs shopping the 24-year-old star around with only the Gold Coast Titans left off the list.
Fox Sports has speculated the snub could be telling, reporting the club “may not want to deal with the Titans given they have already taken young forward Tino Fa’asuamaleaui” as well as hunting the signatures of Jahrome Hughes, Smith and Cameron Smith.
Cameron Smith’s future has been a hot topic of discussion in 2020 with the Storm and NRL legend’s possible retirement constantly in the news with Brandon Smith and NRL rookie of the year Harry Grant stuck behind the legend.
Grant made a name for himself on loan to the Wests Tigers, while also starring on debut for the Queensland State of Origin side in the decider.
Brandon Smith has been linked closely with the Canterbury Bulldogs after he gave the club an ultimatum if Cameron went around again.
Cameron Smith’s book made waves last month and the 37-year-old revealed that he didn’t want to stand in the way of Smith or Grant.
“There’s no way I’m re-signing for another 12 months if the club is going to lose either Harry or Brandon. I don’t want to see the club struggle in the long term just so I can play one more season.,” he writes in an extract published in The Daily Telegraph.
“I was well aware of Brandon Smith’s and Harry Grant’s situations.
“And I knew that if I chose to play on in Melbourne, it would be hard for the Storm to retain all three of us, even though the club had said time and time again that it could.
“I appreciated that Brandon and Harry were building careers of their own. Brandon has established himself as the New Zealand No. 9, and Harry played 2020 with the Wests Tigers, where he had a standout season.”
The Storm released a statement earlier on Monday that Brandon was contracted for the 2021 season but that the club would seek compensation if he wanted an early release.
“Brandon is a wonderful player and great person to have around the club,” Storm general manager of football Frank Ponissi said.
“Given he is now a premiership player, national representative and has been a valuable asset to our team over the last few years, any move will only be considered with appropriate arrangements put in place.
“The club has shown we are comfortable with negotiating these requests while also maintaining our performance on the field, given we were in the same position with Josh Addo-Carr only 12 months ago.
“We look forward to having Brandon back on the track on January 4 along with his teammates as they prepare for the 2021 season.”
But The Daily Telegraph reported that Brandon’s manager Stan Martin emailed the clubs saying Smith wants to “play exclusively at hooker”.
It added that one club was willing to release a representative prop for Brandon.
The report added that one NRL CEO believes Smith will head to Sydney, saying “I reckon he has a club. He has his buyer. But they are sending it out to everyone in case a club is looking to move a player that might satisfy Melbourne and then the Storm would allow Brandon to leave”.
Smith has quickly become one of the biggest personalities in the NRL with the man known as “Block of Cheese”, “Hectic Cheese” or just plain old “Cheese”, gave one of the all-time post grand final interviews to NSW Origin coach Brad Fittler.
“It was pretty good, I mean I played pretty s**t tonight but I got the ring,” Smith said.
“It’s for sale, I need to pay for all the beers I’m about to drink.
“I can’t wait to take this home to my mum and dad, they sacrificed to put me in this position I’m in so this is definitely for them.
“I can’t wait to get on the piss with all the boys.
“I’ll take anyone as long as they’ll drink a lot.
“We’ll get Christian Welch too drunk to play Origin... (Cameron Munster) will probably do something stupid.”
He then had to be censored after dropping some choice words on Matthew Johns’ SEN show, clearly enjoying his celebrations.
