Tiger’s Rookie of the Year Harry Grant dropped a bombshell at the club’s awards ceremony on Wednesday by stating that if Cameron Smith plays with Melbourne the young gun whore will not return to the storm.
Tiger’s coaching staff, players, officials and members were blind when Grant made the statement on stage as he received the Wests Tigers Rookie of the Year award.
The Tigers hosted the club’s annual Kelly Barnes Awards ceremony at the Waterview Event Center in Bicentennial Park, where winger David Nofoaluma was named Player of the Year.
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“Storm are in the box seat”
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Grant made the statement in front of 300 guests on stage.
The Storm were only loaned to the Wests Tigers by the Melbourne Storm for this season and have been adamant for the past four months. Grant was always meant to return to the club.
Crucially, the aspiring dummy half have a release clause in their contract should champion # 9 Smith decide to play again next season.
Smith conducted an interview in July in which he said he was three weeks away from making a decision about his future playing.
It’s been 11 weeks now and it’s counting and the Storm captain is sticking to his line that he’s got no closer to a decision.
In an interview earlier this week, the former Kangaroos and Queensland captain said he couldn’t imagine playing for a coach other than Craig Bellamy.
Smith also stated that neither Storm stars Harry Grant nor Brandon Smith put any pressure on him to make a decision about gambling.
PK: Smith “lives in a bubble”
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Brandon Smith’s manager emailed Melbourne Storm two months ago letting the club know if Cameron Smith would keep playing, then the kiwi whore would most likely ask for a release.
The 22-year-old Grant has now stated this and has the necessary release clause in his contract so that he can leave Melbourne.
The Tigers would love to house Grant for the next season and have the margin cap to do so.
But young gun # 9 gave no indication of which NRL club he might end up with in the event of a Smith game.
The Storm claim they have a plan if Smith wants to keep playing and retire.
There is a theory that the # 9 champion is waiting to see how far Melbourne will go in the final.
Perhaps if the storm won another Premier League, Smith would choose to retire.
If, as in last year’s final series, they tilt and fail to make it to the grand finale, the biggest dummy half of history can decide to continue playing.
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