Cameron Smith has given his most expansive answer yet on why he finally decided it was the right time to retire from rugby league earlier this year.
Smith's decision took an age to be announced publicly, with the Immortal-in-waiting keeping everyone guessing right up until the eve of the season-opener in March.
Up until the time he made the announcement at the unveiling of his statue outside AAMI Park in Melbourne, there were theories floating around that he could return to the game mid-season with either the Broncos or the Titans.
By then the accepted narrative was that Smith had played his last game for the Storm, finishing up in a purple jersey in a fairytale grand final win over the Panthers.
Speaking on SEN Gold Coast's Pat and Heals earlier today, Smith confirmed that the first decision he made was to finish up at the Storm, explaining that he didn't want to be the reason the club lost either Harry Grant or Brandon Smith.
"I didn't want to be a hindrance in Melbourne," Smith said.
"What I mean by that is, we got two young guys, fantastic dummy-halves down there right now in Brandon Smith and Harry Grant.
"I spoke with (Melbourne coach) Craig (Bellamy) last year — this is before the season had finished — and I spoke to him about my concern about if I was to play on in 2021, being in Melbourne and holding those guys back, and potentially one of them leaving.
"The club to lose one of those outstanding players would have been the wrong thing to do."
Having decided he would make 2020 his last with the Storm, Smith confirmed that he then toyed with the idea of a move to either the Broncos or the Titans, giving serious thought to p-laying on due to the fact that he felt he could still compete with the best players in the NRL, even with his 38th birthday coming up in June.
"Really, the only option for me if I was playing on was going to be in Brisbane or the Gold Coast," Smith said.
"That was something I had to weigh up also, it just came down to that I felt it was the right time to finish, coming off a premiership last year and where my family is at the moment with everything that's going on with the kids and Barb, my wife.
"It was just time to sit back and spend more time with them."
After spending several months out of the limelight, Smith has reappeared over the last couple of weeks, with appearances in the Storm's coach's box in Magic Round as well as signing deals to work in the media, both on Nine's NRL coverage and with his own show on SEN.
Speaking to the media following Melbourne's convincing 44-18 win over the Dragons on Sunday, Bellamy made it clear he would love to offer Smith a full-time job on the coaching staff, so insightful was his advice during the game.
"I expected to get a bit advice and he spoke up a couple of times," Bellamy said.
"I love his opinions. Well, I don't love his opinions. I treasure them. Sometimes it is not what I think, but for a guy that has played 400 (NRL) games and 100 rep games he knows a fair bit about the game.
"He was quite handy actually. I asked him a couple of questions and a couple of the coaches did as well. I'd like him to be in there every week but that is probably not going to happen."
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