Look this is not a strong dislike compared to the ones I have for blokes who hang their jeans off their freckles or people who only indicate they are turning right after the lights change or pimply suited knobs who talk on their mobiles as if every one within a kilometre wants to know that they had a “massif blow out…eh man”.  No it’s not that strong.  It’s really just like a mild form of skin irritation that you scratch but it never quite goes away – that’s the relationship I have with Cameron Smith.  It’s also annoying because he is a very good player but he just doesn’t sit right with me. So that you can understand my reluctance to embrace this former Logan Brothers boy I’ll list just a few of the reasons why I don’t like the cut of Cam’s jaunty jib.

Reason No 1 : He captains a team that cheated

Way back when the Storm were found to be rorting the salary cap the Telegraph reported that allegedly “Melbourne Storm officials secretly paid skipper Cameron Smith $60,000 to renovate his home as part of a deal outside of his NRL contract.”  Possibly it went like this, if in fact it was true, one Monday morning early a truck load of bricks and sand were dumped in his front yard, then a bunch of blokes arrived in overalls.  Smith questioned them and said, “Hey what are you fellas doing here?”. They replied “We are here to do your extension Cam”. Smith replied, “Oh, all right that’s cool.”

Despite some players getting boats, cars and Harvey Norman vouchers some just simply didn’t realise it was illegal and why would they?  They are simply just football players who just want to get out on the park fuelled on bit of calves blood and have fun.

Reason No 2 : Some say Smith doesn’t play fair

In an article after State of Origin III in 2012, Dean Ritchie titled, Queensland captain Cameron Smith reveals his darker side during Origin III.  Ritchie details some of Smith’s alleged indiscretions.

“A star who stands for everything good in the game. But here is the proof Queensland skipper Cam Smith has a dark side that NSW discovered on Wednesday night at Suncorp Stadium. The Daily Telegraph has unearthed eight separate incidents during State of Origin III that could have resulted in Smith being penalised, sin-binned or even being placed on report. He avoided detection. There was a grapple, headlock, knee, arm twist and neck grab.”

Let’s not beat around the bush here.  He captains a team that would have golded in wrestling at the first Olympics.  In fact some Storm players are so intense in their tackling technique that some Storm wives have sought counselling citing that their husbands spend more time lying on top of opposition players than them.

Reason 3 : It’s all about Cam and his petty parochialism

It appears Cam is not aware or concerned that Australia is made up of a number of states and territories, only one of which happens to be Queensland.

After the Kangaroo Test late last year the Telegraph wrote that “The Kangaroos skipper had been forced to interrupt his end-of-season to clear the air with Paul Gallen over the controversy surrounding the chanting of the Queensland victory song after Australia’s recent Test win.”  The article went onto say that “even cricket great Steve Waugh and former Wallaby hardman Simon Poidevin called for the Queenslanders to make a public apology but it appears there is little chance of that ever happening.”

Reason 4 : It’s all about Cam and the elite players not the game

In recent times Cameron Smith has come out and said that there are too many games and that elite players are getting jaded and burnt out.  He is not enamoured with a second NZ team either.  Cam thinks he has the fans’ interests at heart and perhaps he has. He is quoted in the SMH as saying:

”What the fans want, they want to see the elite players in the game for as long as they can. Do you want Greg Inglis to play five or six years and be burnt out?  Or do we want to give him an opportunity to be in our game for 10 years?”

Well Cam, I really do not care how long you and Cordial Inglis stay in the game because surprise, surprise there are always talented young players to replace you who are rearing to have a house let alone have their houses renovated for them. You played 30 games last year, you poor overtaxed bugger – give us a break.  Big Mal Meninga played 37 in 1990 on one leg and a crook arm you big sook!