{"id":43390,"date":"2021-03-10T18:41:05","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T19:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=43390"},"modified":"2021-03-11T03:25:52","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T03:25:52","slug":"calls-for-changes-to-immortal-rules-for-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=43390","title":{"rendered":"Calls for changes to Immortal rules for Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne Storm officials have urged the NRL to change its rules regarding Immortal status, calling for Cameron Smith<\/a> to be inducted into the exclusive club as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Smith called time on his 430 NRL game career on Wednesday<\/a> but the existing rules state a player can only be eligible for Immortal status five years after retiring.<\/p>\n

Melbourne Storm boss Matt Tripp has appealed to the NRL "not to wait" to name Smith an Immortal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"He shouldn't have to [wait]," Storm chairman Tripp said. "I'm not aware of the rationale, but if they were ever going to change it they wouldn't get many arguments with Cameron."<\/p>\n

ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys broached the notion of changing the rule at a meeting of the game's top officials last year, however the NRL has confirmed changing the set up is not on the agenda.<\/p>\n

\"Cameron<\/p>\n

Five players were announced as Immortals in 2018 \u2013 Mal Meninga, Norm Provan, Frank Burge, Dave Brown and Dally Messenger.<\/p>\n

The Storm are hoping to keep Smith at the club in an off-field role, although the Titans and Broncos are expected to express interest as well.<\/p>\n

Tripp says Smith could fulfill several roles at the club from inside the football department to board level.<\/p>\n

"My job now is to make sure [Smith] is part of the club long term, and ideally that's what we're going to work towards," he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I'm going to work really hard to structure a role that will see the great association we've had with him continue for many years to come. He's quite creative when he puts his mind to things. The sky is the limit.<\/p>\n

"There are so many things we could do which would see him add great value to the club. He might turn around and not want to do that, but we'll keep talking and try to get to a position where we're all happy.<\/p>\n

"It's hard to put into words how grateful we are for what he's done for the game of rugby league in Melbourne and in Victoria \u2013 and for the Melbourne Storm. We wouldn't be nowhere near the club we are without him and without what he's done for the club. It's not just Cameron, it's Barb and the kids. We're just eternally grateful."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melbourne Storm officials have urged the NRL to change its rules regarding Immortal status, calling for Cameron Smith to be inducted into the exclusive club […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43390"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43392,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43390\/revisions\/43392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}