Brandon Smith has played his final game for the Storm — and that thought appears to be giving Craig Bellamy some peace.
The livewire dummy-half was constantly in the headlines for all the wrong reasons in the past 12 months, having announced a decision to join the Roosters before the season started.
It went overlooked in the immediate shock that followed the Storm’s elimination final loss to the Raiders, but Smith’s cold relationship with his former club was made brutally clear when Bellamy failed to mention Smith once in his post-match press conference.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported Sunday Smith had worn out his welcome at the Storm.
Bellamy earlier this year singled Smith out when criticising his team’s performance and Smith last month revealed he had received a special punishment from his coach following his referee tirade scandal.
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After such a turbulent final season, Bellamy did not mention Smith’s name once when he thanked departing players for their service.
Felise Kaufusi, Jesse Bromwich and Kenny Bromwich all received special thanks from Bellamy.
Smith’s failure to get a mention came after all four departing players were presented with special plaques during the club’s final regular season game.
Bellamy does not appear to hold the same regard for Smith’s time at the club.
Smith had made the decision to join the Roosters for the start of the 2023 season after the Storm ultimately looked to Harry Grant as the club’s long-term No. 9.
Smith rejected a contract offer from the Storm and ultimately signed a two-year deal with the Roosters. The deal reportedly has a third-year option in the Kiwi’s favour and is reported to be worth $800,000 per season.
The issue many figures at the Storm had with the decision was the way Smith publicly announced it during an extraordinary podcast appearance in December.
Among a series of bombshells in the controversial chat, Smith said he wanted “to win a premiership” in a Roosters jersey.
He also suggested the Storm had a “piss up” culture — a comment that was reported to have enraged some sections of the club.
Smith in July was also given a three-match ban and was sent to the sin bin for calling NRL referee Adam Gee a “cheating bastard”.
After the game, Bellamy couldn’t defend his player.
“I don’t know what he said. We don’t want our players showing that sort of disrespect for the referees. I can only say it won’t happen again,” he said.
After serving the suspension, Smith revealed Bellamy punished him additionally by removing him from the rest of the playing group.
Smith said he had been banished to train away from the rest of his teammates during the three-match suspension and trained with the club’s fitness coach for the entirety of the ban.
“No, that’s not the norm, that’s quite special,” Smith said on Tuesday.
“I think it was just a sort of just getting punished for not putting the team first.
“It’s been pretty hard and a bit of a grind.
“Waking up early and training by yourself, it gets pretty boring.
“But just being able to hang out with the boys now makes me a lot more grateful for being in a team sport.”
Smith believes that the club were trying to send him a message by banning him from training for those three weeks.
After being isolated from the squad for so long, the Kiwi international reflected on what the time away from the main squad had taught him.
“Just making you feel guilty for your actions by taking away what you love most,” he said.
“And for me with footy that’s playing with my mates and my friends and enjoying it.
“They kind of took that away from me and it sucks.
“I got to hang out with the fitness coach and he’s not that much fun either.”
