Retiring NRL referee spills beans on Cameron Smith’s antics

[EaglesDontTweet]

Matthew Sullivan

September 3, 2021 - 6:53PM

Retiring NRL referee Matt Cecchin has revealed what Melbourne Storm legend Cameron Smith was really like to deal with as a player.
The 48-year-old will officiate his final NRL match this weekend and hang up the whistle for good, after he retired for the first time in 2018 before returning to the game in the last couple of seasons.

Cecchin has been the man in the middle for 350 NRL matches, as well as several State of Origin and Grand Finals, and he has now spilt the beans on his many interactions with Smith, who many regard as the greatest rugby league player of all time.

Smith, who captained the Storm to three premierships and is the NRL’s games record holder, was renowned for constantly chatting to referees during games to try and change their minds about a penalty.

Full story...

Ref spills beans on footy legend’s antics

Retiring NRL referee Matt Cecchin has revealed what Melbourne Storm legend Cameron Smith was really like to deal with as a player.

www.news.com.au

 

[wombatgc]

I wouldn’t call that spilling the beans….more like "I really wanted to root him".

 

[globaleagle]

The thing with Cameron – he did get a lot of airtime with referees – but he did it in a way that he’d come and talk to you on the field and you’d feel like pausing the game, ordering a couple of coffees or a couple of beers to have a chat about it.”

Cecchin said Smith’s knowledge of the game of rugby league was off the charts and he respected the calm manner in which he would argue his point, often leaving the veteran referee second-guessing his decisions.


- fmd, and yet coaches get fined when saying the ref's are massaging the game / giving the close calls to just one team, etc.

Even when they brought in the rule about no approaching the refs after penalties given... there they all were letting smith have a nice ole chat to them the next week while telling other captains to nick off.