Cam Smith reveals conversation that CHANGED his career: Turn It Up – Sunday Footy Show | NRL on Nine

On this edition of Turn It Up Cameron Smith reveals an IMPORTANT conversation with Craig Bellamy that forever changed and shaped his NRL career. The Rugby League Legend has some words of wisdom for young aspiring athletes. Plus, what does Cam Smith think of being labelled the Greatest Rugby League Player of all time. Subscribe 👉 https://bit.ly/2lvAJT2 NRL News👉 https://bit.ly/2mPWIV9

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[Music] so you want to be a [Music] champion hello and welcome to turn it up leave me alone you bikes and for me the greatest of all time Cameron Smith for a coins Lander that hurts to say Cameron Smith from Logan where’s Logan and what what sort of town is it uh Logan’s just it’s in between Brisbane and the Galo so just down the highway from uh the capital uh very working class sort of area Blue Collar area um but yeah that’s my entire child childhood I look back Joe and um all with fun memories and you grew up in a rby league family your dad actually played against the king yeah he did yeah so my old man he played at East tigers um been around for a long long time that footy Club um and had a lot of success in the early days as well um and played a little bit a little bit of footy against Wally when Wally was first starting out he played Wally was playing at at valleys um young lock and yeah even back then the old man said like he’s he was a Quality quality player and we got the author of your book andrewb The Ghost rer the great it did a wonderful job too mate thank you it sold well it sold just about as many as yours what’ you learn about what I learned a lot of people the thing is with Cam a lot of people don’t know you they know you as the footballer um I don’t know if a lot of people know actually what you’re like and what you’re about what did you learn about well you know going into it like you know you’re I don’t know if you’re aware or not there was you’re a polarizing character during your during your career um and when I interviewed Cameron so that was the end of 19 was it it must be the end of 19 that’s when we started that’s when we started and I went down to Melbourne and and and I didn’t I forgot how cold it was in Melbourne like so I didn’t take any I took one jumper was a dragon’s hoodie so I knock on the door yeah it was wearing a dragon’s hoodie but we sat in the back in in Cameron’s backyard for week we Ed one one interview at the pub which I thought was great restraint and I just like he opened up and it was like you know just a good you know without without uh without being too sick of fanic clock it was just it was so easy to talk to a good knockout guy you know I just and to me it just showed you the difference that you get the the perception of a player and what a player is actually like and you know he came from a workingclass background made the most of his abilities um and you know I just thought the way I the thing I got out of was just how much Cameron had been bashed up by certain elements of the media and that was a good lesson for everybody not to listen to those elements of the media because it doesn’t necessarily reflect what the person’s like where’d you get the ability like I don’t think anyone has ever come into the game even as a young BL so mature and so calm under the pressure of a game where where does that come from Freddy it’s hard to explain that because I think it’s a reflection of you know me as a person I think that’s just my personality or my nature I’m pretty laidback and easy going you know I’ve worked alongside you guys now for a couple years and you probably noticed that a bit um but you know footy was something that that always seemed easy to me um and something that was really enjoyable so I think that’s why um I I was just out there having fun and you know there’s no doubt I learned a lot from um you know my a lot of my junior coaches I was lucky I had some great junior coaches um you know my young days at local brothers and um but you know I learned I learned so much from my old man so when I first started playing rugby league as a you know seven or eight year old my dad was was coaching sort of the older teams right the 15 16 17s I’d finished my training early then I’d duck in and and I’d listen to his meetings that be having with the older boys I join in with their training sessions so I was trying to I was learning stuff probably well beyond on my years at at that stage so um I had a pretty good education of of the game growing up and and um once once we got into the NRL I I had to learn a few things right like like what well just in the early parts of of you know my career at Melbourne so when Craig first turned up it was our first preseason with Craig so going into 03 he pulled me aside one one after one session and and just said mate look how how do you think you’re going with your training I said oh look up I feel good I’m I’m making all my times and I’m reaching all my targets and he just said look I feel as though you’re you’re just training within yourself a bit you just you’re doing what you have to do to get through it and um he just went on to explain look I’ve been around the game for a long time and you know the good players they do that right you can have a you can have a good career just by doing what you’re doing at the moment but the great players they they make themselves uncomfortable they they push themselves they get the very best out ofs every day and so I sort of went home that that afternoon and had a little bit of a think about it and thought well you know like this is a guy that’s has seen a lot of football he’s been around some great players and um you know why not what’s again to Hur to to try that and from that day on I tried that and um you know without that conversation who knows like I don’t know where my career would have gone you grew up in southeast Queensland every kid pretty much despised to be a Bronco the Broncos missed the Broncos won the comp in 06 and then pretty much plateaued but they missed a generation of Cameron Smith Billy SL Cooper CR Jonathan thirst when you go when Melbourne would play against Brisbane they were your best games did you have a point to prove or a be your Bonnet uh a little bit Joey I reckon particularly early on not so much at the end but um and I I think they come with a bit of maturity but yeah like there’s no doubt that we had great results against Melbourne uh against Brisbane sorry at the Melbourne storm and there there was a contingent of us Right There Was You Know Myself Billy uh Cooper you know you throw Dallas Johnson in there as well or queen and I grew up idolizing the Broncos idolized so did that hurt they didn’t yeah it did yeah it did and you know there were there were guys and you probably heard JT tell a similar story he and I grew up in that same age group playing in the similar competition um in Brisbane as Juniors and there was a handful of guys that were sort of picked above us or or given need to name you don’t need to name no I can name them CU because I’m good mates with them um Daniel Jones um Dan Campbell Dan Campbell played at the kns they played at the nights um he’s now I think he’s had a recruitment at the Cowboys um and there’s there’s a little halfback MC Daly who was an incredible footballer like at at a very young age um so they were the guys that they were they were sort of given scholarships and and you know sort of Junior contracts with the Broncos and jtm himself we you know as a kids you know you get a little bit jealous a little bit envious of of the situation because you haven’t got the tracks that’s right but didn’t didn’t didn’t so Anthony Griffin was at the storm he identified you but didn’t Bennett tried to get you to backflip at the last minute well it wasn’t so much backflip look I don’t know I don’t know the full story but what happened was I was approached by the Melbourne storm through Anthony Griffin so hook was the one that sort of um he identified me in a in a state champion under 7 State Championship up in rockampton um Mark Murray was also a part of that that sort of um recruitment sort of group with the Melbourne storm so I went and met those two with my with my mom and dad and sat down and spoke about what their plans would be for me if I was to join the golden storm and not long after we we received a phone call from the Broncos and I actually went and sat in Wayne Bennett’s Office at Red Hill one of the most intimidating it wasn’t long it about 15 minutes most intimidating 15 minutes of my life just given you know what he’d done as as a coach and um as I said you know the way I I looked at the Broncos and always wanted to be a Bronco but we walked away from both those meetings and and you know I look back on the conversation I had with my mom and dad selfishly from their from their view they could have said mate sign with the Broncos you know to keep me close to home and whatnot but they just said mate look where do you think is going to be your greatest opportunity to play you know your dream is to play NRL where is that going to be and it ended up being Melbourne and the rest of its history how intense was b a early on there was his what was his nickname dog there a chapter called dog head dog a term that’s been used to you know well yeah that sort of come up I think Matty G and myself come up with that that nickname and that was because well you see it now right when he gets angry when he gets a little bit upset he he starts froing at the mouth like a like a dog with rabies so he got he got he got that turn but do you think he had ravies at some stage yeah when in those blowups but look he and I have a really really strong relationship at at the end like to be fair it wasn’t like I didn’t look at him as my coach and I don’t think he viewed me as one of his players or captain of his footy side I think we’ll just we’re just a couple of mates involved in rugby league and um I I think that relationship started quite early I yeah with my laidback nature and how intense he was I I just tried to find ways to break him down early because it was so intense like we no play with the storm were used to that like yeah um Ops was the coach there right so he was all about training hard you guys would have experienced it train hard then have a good time yeah on a couple of the kangaroo TS you’d understand that awesome and and the and the older storm guys you know spoke about that but with Craig coming in they were just like we have not experienced anything like this just on all the time so yeah as a young fellow I thought this play this he can’t be like this 24/7 so I just tried to find ways to break him down and I think that’s where the relationship started now the other love Queensland um we’ll talk about the foot in the SEC but what about Queensland in general like if I if there’s a golfer on the other side of the world they say they’re a queenslander if there’s a swimmer the commentators will say they’re a queenslander if there’s any athlete or person in the world they’ll say they’re a queenslander before an Australian what is it about people who grow up in Queensland and where does it come from I think it’s just ingrain in you Freddy just from a very young age with you know and I think it comes from sport in particular you know all the all the um teams that that represent in our state and and you’re just proud to to represent all the people and um everything about that area of our country and um you take ownership of it if you ever get the opportunity to wear that that Marone Jersey um whether it be at the elite level of of state of origin or you know you’re playing you know Junior School boys or school girls or any Junior Club sort of stuff it’s it’s it’s an opportunity that everyone really aspires to to get um and you know everyone’s really proud of of exactly where they’re from how did you feel going into your last origin game that 17 series up at Lang Park sunor um New South New South Wales had won the first game but lost the second game in Sydney it was a great opportunity I remember being in the rooms afterwards and seeing you Joy you were as angry as anyone Boyd cner was almost in tears but there been a lot of criticism of Cameron for not remember for not running the ball enough do you remember yeah you laid up to that game no I do and and I think um I knew on myself that I hadn’t played all that well in the first couple I was out there doing a lot of work defensively and and trying to guide the team around with the ball but I hadn’t really made an impact with with any of my running now I wasn’t I wasn’t an out andout runner of the football like you see some dummy half I was I played with a bit more subtle and and things like that around the play the ball but I just hadn’t offered enough um and you know speaking with Kevy Kevy was great because he he was always encouraging me you know to run the football and he said mate like sometimes you just like it’s okay to be a little bit more selfish and and have a run every now and again because if you have a good run then then positive things come about it but I remember walking off that that field um in Sydney where you know that famous goal kick by JT had the busted shoulder played half a game with the busted shoulder um which chy was a little bit upset about that at him this kick right here like one of the biggest plays that any individuals come up with in in that Arena amazing um so he’s got us into a decider at at sunor and the moment I walked off that field I knew exactly what I had to do um you know for this team in in game three and um you had myself prepared for it and look not knowing either weby that that game was going to be my last origin game um he didn’t know no no didn’t know well that happened we went down to Melbourne actually this Craig we went we went to training and that’s where actually someone WR about the music at training the reason we have music at training we went to Melbourne and they used to play music and I thought this is an awesome atmosphere you know they used to play before training and and actually we went to training went and spoke to Craig a little bit and then Craig goes well I can’t can’t talk any longer I go why he goes Cameron’s just retired it happened on that day when I was coaching out on the day we went down to Melbourne and said I’m retiring from Queensland bet you would went everyone can see how humble you are what does it mean when not people in the media but your peers call you the greatest player they’ve seen um I feel it’s a little bit embarrassing to be honest Joey um because I don’t I’d never really sort of sit back and reflect too much on you know my career and what I was able to achieve as an individual it was all about the team stuff um and you know I I think myself I’m I’m very very fortunate to have played in some very good rugby league sides um not just with Melbourne but with Queensland and the Australian side as well and be coached by some of the great coaches of our game without those people around me like I I don’t achieve the things I do in my football career so it is a little bit embarrassing particularly you know when you have someone like yourself you know talking about that but um there’s always going to be that argument right or or conversation around who people regard as the best player of all time and all that sort of stuff it’s it’s really the the individual’s view on on how they see you know what they think is the best player in the game but um I just I look back on my career and go look I got to play with some of the greatest players in the game I got to play against some of the greatest players in the game and be coached by some great people I think the biggest thing um when you look at the highlights say of an Andrew Johns a Wally lwis and a Cameron Smith your highlights really so different but you know the fact your longevity uh you know your ability to win games I think the biggest thing I think um for the game is the message you can give to young kids about what it is to you know what sort of mindset you need to win big games and how do you take you know this athlete to get to get his team to win games how do you do that how do what message would you give young kids uh I just think it all it all starts with you know the work you put into your trade and you know whatever sport you’re playing um you know we’re talking rugby league here but it’s all about your preparation and your training you got to see that as important um and not think well you know in all of your in all of your work and and what you want to be good at you got to take that seriously um and there’s no doubt that enjoyment is the most important part of of playing sport because if you enjoy what you do you’re going to do good things right but when you’re working you got to take it seriously and want to look at getting better all the time there’s no doubt about that I’m this year I took on coaching my young fellow under 15s right and and that’s the message I I give to those young boys all the time um and it’s challenging at times right because 15 year olds they got a bit going on in their life and but you know it’s it’s it’s important to to work hard when you need to um and I think too is like want to be want to be a team person I think that’s what I I always that was my mentality was always being about how can I help the people around me how can I help the people around me be the best they can be um and I think if you do that then good things come your way this year NRL on9 is your One-Stop shop for all footing that’s right Freddy not about the highlights Action 7 days a week billing G podcast get that on your drive on the way home Immortal Behavior grab a sit on the couch for that and of course my favorite Fred in the a the best footy brains the biggest games don’t trust algorithm subscribe to NRL on9 and get all your entertainment there