Mal Meninga, Cameron Smith, Titans, ‘he wanted to play’ | Alds

The speculation around Smith has been intense throughout the 2020 season and the off-season but the champion hooker revealed his decision on Wednesday.

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Smith said he had plenty to think about and toss up throughout the season, including revealing the attacks on his wife Barb when the NRL gave her a diamond ring on his 400th game almost drove him out of the game.

As the most capped player with the most points in history as just a few of his records, Smith was able to keep hard news on his retirement plan surprisingly quiet despite the speculation surrounding the future Immortal.

Last month the questions ramped up again when the Broncos revealed they were interested, although he had long been linked to the Titans after moving his family to the Gold Coast and being seen in the crowd at a pre-season match.

But the Titans denied any communication with Smith.

That is until Friday on Fox League, when Titans head of culture and NRL legend Mal Meninga, who had denied any contact with Smith, revealed he had spoken to Smith.

“I spoke to Smithy twice through the whole episode, because it was an episode, it was like a series,” Meninga said. “Drama here, drama there, people commentating on it.

“We talked about … He wanted to play. At the back end of last year, he was a champion and he still feels like he can still play. So he hasn’t got that desire (to retire).

“We talk as ex-players, you actually know when you’re done and dusted. Your body falls apart, mentally you don’t want to play anymore, you’re sick of turning up to training and playing. You’re done.”

Greg Alexander added: “You could tell he wasn’t. Listening to him in that speech, I thought ‘here’s a bloke who still wants to play’, I really did. So I could understand how difficult it was for him to make that decision.”

But Meninga said the extra part of the decision was the loyalty to the club he spent his entire illustrious career.

“At the end of the day, he didn’t want to play against Melbourne,” he said. “He’s Melbourne. He’s been Melbourne all his career, he showed great loyalty to Melbourne and I feel he’s made the right decision in my mind. As an ex-old fella, I feel like he’s made the right decision for the right reasons and it’s all about not playing for Melbourne.”

Meninga said with Smith living on the Gold Coast, “he can come over whenever he likes”.

Meninga also joked: “We haven’t spent all his money. We’ve still got money in the cap” during the discussion.

Is that a door being left open from one Immortal to another?

While some have already suggested Smith will come out of retirement for one more shot, what the entire Smith saga has shown is that any decision he makes will be in his own time, regardless of what anyone else wants to believe.