He may be a future Immortal—but Cameron Smith is also one of the greatest manipulators the NRL has seen, according to a former Queensland and Australian teammate.
Hosting a segment on SENQ Breakfast radio, Corey Parker made the comments about Smith while also confessing he stretched the boundaries of the rulebook himself every time he played in a career that included 347 NRL games, 19 State of Origin appearances and 13 internationals.
“I would have cheated every game I played, every game, make of that what you will,” Parker said as he came clean to his co-host Ian Healy.
“I used to stay right under the referee’s nose and say ‘I’m onside’ (even when I wasn’t).”
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“If I could get away with being a metre offside or standing not so square at marker or leaving a little earlier off the try line defensively, I’d do it—and that’s cheating,” Parker continued, admitting to one of the worst-kept secrets in rugby league.
“Or is it only cheating if you get caught?
“Ultimately you’re throwing the onus on to the officiators (to make a decision), some of the great manipulators of any game do it.”
The ‘Cam Smith’ Law
“Cameron Smith was probably the best I ever played with,” Parker then said of his former Queensland Maroons captain in a comment unlikely to come as a major surprise to NRL fans, especially those from New South Wales.
Such was Smith’s ability to slow the speed of opposition attacks, many jokingly dubbed the new six-again rule the ‘Cam Smith Law’ when it was first introduced during the 2020 NRL season.