Cameron Smith AM was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2025 as an Athlete Member for his contribution to the sport of Rugby League

Cameron Smith’s rugby league career was almost unparalleled in terms of laurels, leadership and longevity, as one of the game’s greatest players and an Immortal-in-waiting.

Smith was the first – and so far only – player to play more than 400 National Rugby League games, representing the Melbourne Storm in 430 matches across 19 seasons from 2002-20. His presence and composure as a hooker (or dummy-half) won acclaim not only at NRL level, but also when he was representing his native Queensland and Australia. He played 42 State of Origin matches from 2003-17 and 56 Tests for Australia from 2007-17, including 33 as captain, winning countless individual and team silverware.

He was an outstanding leader, often dragging his team over the line with game-winning moments, but also as a sounding board in bringing out the best in those around him.
Smith’s elite left-foot kicking ability was a telling feature of his game as he went on to become the NRL’s all-time point-scorer with 2,786 points. The dual Dally M Medallist remained at the peak of his powers right to the end of his career, leading the Storm to the 2020 premiership, providing the perfect finale to a brilliant career.

One of Cameron Smith’s teammates, Matt Geyer, summed up his career as succinctly as the countless accolades he received when he said the Melbourne Storm, Queensland and Australian hooker had “set a record for breaking records”.

Smith’s rugby league CV stretched out magnificently for club, state and country. He sits at the game’s summit with an almost dizzying elevation in terms of records, achievements and awards. At the peak of his powers in 2017, no lesser judge than the great Andrew Johns, himself a Rugby League Immortal, declared Smith was the greatest player to play the game.

Johns told Channel 9: “Wally (Lewis) will always be the greatest player to ever play Origin, but for me, I think Cameron Smith is the greatest player ever.

“He plays in the toughest position, he plays 80 minutes, he doesn’t get injured, and just his attention to detail, the way he sees the game. He literally is a couple of tackles ahead of other players. He uses the ball, he’s always got it (with) two hands, he waves it around and defenders are mesmerised by it.

“They sit there and look at the ball, they get stuck in the mud, they get on their heels and then he leaves them. I think in the modern era he’ll go down as one of the greatest captains the country has ever had.”

The man who had front-row seats to Smith’s stellar career, Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy, says some of Smith’s records may never be surpassed. “He’s the greatest player I’ve ever seen,” Bellamy said of Smith, months after he led the Storm to the 2020 NRL title.

“From what he’s done, his record of well over 400 games, no one’s gone over 400 games, and he’s also played over 100 representative games for Australia and Queensland.

“With the success he’s had as a captain as well, it’s quite remarkable and hasn’t been done in the game before. I really can’t see it happening again.”

Smith’s incredible legacy is much more than the records he set, but nonetheless they are impressive.

Fittingly, his 430th and final game came on the game’s biggest stage: NRL Grand Final Day 2020, where he led the Storm to another premiership triumph. It was his 310th win as a player, which is also a record. His tally of 2,786 points also set a benchmark, comprising 48 tries, 1,295 goals and four field goals, while his 327 games as Storm captain is the most of any captain in rugby league history.

Rugby league was always Smith’s passion as a kid growing up in the working-class Brisbane suburb of Logan. He was a junior star with Logan Brothers, where he won nine best and fairest awards in 11 seasons at the club, having made his first representative team when he was only 13, which put him on a pathway to Junior Kangaroos representative teams.

Such was Smith’s leadership that he captained the Brisbane Norths senior team while still a teenager, and his outstanding form led him to join the Melbourne Storm.

He played two games for the Storm in 2002 at half-back, but his move to the hooker role the following season was a game-changer for the club and for the game. Having taken over as hooker from Richard Swain, Smith admitted to being a little tentative at first before a discussion with Craig Bellamy set him straight.

He would say later: “After the way ‘Swainy’ had played, being the best player at Melbourne, I didn’t want to do anything wrong. But Craig told me I was in the comfort zone and after that I just tried to do all the little things better.”

By the middle of the 2003 season Smith’s form saw him ushered into the Queensland State of Origin side, fulfilling a childhood ambition. Bellamy said at the time: “He is a mature kid. He has an old head on his shoulders and I’m sure he’ll handle it. He won’t be overawed.” Smith wasn’t.

He had a dream debut, scoring a try off a Darren Lockyer pass. It was the first of 42 State of Origin games he would play in from 2003 to 2017, as an inspirational player and later as an astute captain.

His international career started in 2007 and would run for a decade, in 56 Tests as a player and 33 as his nation’s captain.

Smith’s team success was legendary. The Storm was dominant during his time at the club, including playing in eight NRL Grand Finals and captaining Melbourne to three World Club Challenge titles.

The Queensland Maroons won more than 60 per cent of the games he contested, including eight successive State of Origin series victories from 2006 to 2013, and 11 series wins overall. He also won three World Cups with the Kangaroos (2008, 2013, 2017).

Individually, he won two Dally M Player of the Year Awards (2006, 2017), two Golden Boot Awards as the International Player of the Year (2007, 2017), the Dally M Hooker of the Year Award nine times, and was named NRL captain of the year on five occasions.

Smith was inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame in the class of 2024, and it seems only a matter of time before he is elevated to being one of the game’s Immortals.

Fittingly, after Cameron Smith led the Storm to the 2020 NRL title, the club struck a statue in his honour, and one of his celebrated teammate Billy Slater.

In many ways, that was a true reflection of his enormous impact on Melbourne, both the club and the city that came to love him.

Honours & Achievements

• 2003: Melbourne Storm Rookie of the Year
• 2006: Dally M Player of the Year
• 2007: State of Origin Wally Lewis Medal
• 2007: Rugby League World Golden Boot Award
• 2011: State of Origin Wally Lewis Medal
• 2013: State of Origin Wally Lewis Medal
• 2016: State of Origin Wally Lewis Medal
• 2017: Rugby League World Golden Boot Award
• 2012: Rugby League International Player of the Year
• 2017: Dally M Player of the Year
• 2019: Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia
• 2024: Inducted into the National Rugby League Hall of Fame

Photo courtesy Alamy.