Brisbane will consider making off-contract NRL superstar Cameron Smith an offer, aware of the value he would bring to the battling club on and off the field.
Still coming to terms with losing young gun David Fifita to Gold Coast, Broncos coach Anthony Seibold says the club will look at anyone whom they think can get the team out of their hole.
Queensland legend Johnathan Thurston has urged the club to go after Smith to add experience and rebuild the Brisbane culture.
Seibold agreed the former Test captain and game’s most capped player offered some prized assets.
“He (Cameron ) would add not only experience but leadership – quality on and off the field to any organisation or any team,” Seibold said on Wednesday.
“Any player who comes on to the market who we think could add something, they’d be in consideration from us.”
He said he had a good working relationship with Smith, after spending five years as an assistant coach at the Storm, but hadn’t had any talks with him about his future.
“I wouldn’t think that he would move away from Melbourne and will finish his career there,” he said.
Seibold said the Broncos didn’t have “bucketloads” of money despite missing on re-signing Fifita and they were undecided about whether they would target another backrower.
Melbourne chairman Matt Tripp said they wanted to keep 37-year-old Smith at the club as a player or in another role such as in coaching or a position on the board.
“At some point in the next month or so we will attempt to either renegotiate a contract for Cameron as a player or we will try and arrange something for him whereby he will remain committed and part of the Melbourne Storm in some capacity for hopefully many years to come,” Tripp told SEN radio on Wednesday
Storm coach Craig Bellamy is off contract at the end of 2021 and has said he’s likely to retire and Tripp said they didn’t want to lose the two pillars of the club at the same time.
“I’d hate the idea of them leaving at the end of the same calendar year, that would leave a pretty big void,” he said.
“We’ll work through what happens with Cameron then we’ll move onto Craig.”