Cameron Smith’s NRL career at Melbourne Storm shows why he is regarded as a rugby league great

Cameron Smith is one of the greatest NRL players ever — and now it’s official that he has played his last game of league.

The announcement that opponents had longed for, and teammates had feared, finally came the day before the start of the season.

If he had gone on, it would have been his 20th season in the league.

There was always the feeling that his victorious end to 2020, steering the Storm to grand final victory over the Panthers, was going to be his farewell.

The off-season stretched on and then teams began coming back to training.

Smith had headed back to Queensland with his family, giving hope to the Broncos and Titans — but the longer things went on without a definitive statement, the more likely it was that he would hang up…