Brandon Smith will miss the start of the NRL season for Melbourne after suffering a facial fracture in the All Stars game.

Smith was easily the best player on the field for the Maori side on Saturday night, scoring two tries and breaking the line four times.

However, one of the best performances of the 23-year-old’s career has come at a cost with the Storm utility to be sidelined for up to six weeks.

It comes at a cruel time for the Smith who would have been pushing for more game time at Melbourne this year.

Perched behind captain Cameron Smith as the starting hooker, the Kiwi representative has come off the bench for most of his 44 of his Storm appearances in recent years.