Vlasnik
Kennel Legend
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2011
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Cameron Smith will be remembered as one of the greatest players in history but he’ll never be in danger of winning a popularity contest.
The champion hooker’s refusal to concede the Storm deserved to be stripped of two premierships is as delusional as it is misguided.
Talk about a poor attempt at re-writing history.
Rival clubs have long sneered at the Storm for continuing to celebrate the 2007 and 2009 premierships irrespective of being caught rorting the salary cap to the tune of $3.78 million over five seasons.
It is the height of arrogance.
It’s also a huge part of why the Storm as a club is so widely disliked.
From the replica trophies the club has sported at Storm headquarters to the premierships being listed on commemorative jerseys and t-shirts, none of it means anything.
The reality is the Storm made four consecutive grand finals from 2006 to 2009 with a team running two sets of books - one which was a red manila folder of secret payments to star players kept off the club premises
It doesn’t matter if the players didn’t know. Although there is an argument most people know exactly where every dollar in their pay packet is coming from.
It doesn’t matter if every other club in the NRL supposedly does the same thing.
The club was rorting the system deluxe and got caught. The end.
Neither the 2020 grand final or the last time Melbourne won a premiership in 2017 are likely to appear on too many highlights reels in years to come.
As far as classic grand finals go, with the exception of a Ryan Papenhuyzen flash of genius they were bludgers of games.
The 2012 grand final is probably best remembered for when James Graham went Hannibal Lecter on Billy Slater’s nose.
Taking nothing away from the Storm for these three premierships though.
They earned them through sweat, hard yakka and talent. They were deserved.
But let’s get some context here.
The 2009, 2007 and 2006 grand finals was when we saw some of the Storm’s most entertaining football.
It was also when the club had systematically acquired a hugely unfair advantage over other clubs.
Just because other clubs who’ve been caught rorting the system in recent years – Parramatta and Cronulla - haven’t been punished as hard doesn’t mean you get to keep the Provan Summons trophies.
Take that one up with Todd Greenberg.
It’s certainly not David Gallop’s fault. That’s just shooting the messenger.
Hoops: Can we cut the fairytales, Cam? The Storm cheated and got caught. The End.
Hoops: Can we cut the fairytales, Cam? Storm cheated and got caught. The End.
www.foxsports.com.au