The Year of Aotearoa's 'Champ Cheese' Brandon Smith
In a year of no international rugby league, the fact that the 2020 NRL season finished with ‘Champ Cheese’ Brandon Smith as the funkiest yarn of the year is exactly what Aotearoa rugby league required. Throughout the year, Brandon Smith flourished in a middle forward role for Melbourne Storm and this wasn't just a case of Smith doing the middle forward role when required as Smith genuinely added his own spice to middle forward duties, perhaps even elevating what a smaller middle forward can offer. None of which should be reason to forget that Smith is still the Aotearoa Kiwis best dummy half and is part of an illustrious crop of younger Kiwis who will take the national team forward.
The list of Aotearoa Kiwis players with a winning record over a semi-decent sample size surely isn't very long and that low key puts Smith in an enticing position. Smith has played seven Tests, 4-3 in the international arena and while that's a teeny-weeny winning split, it is impossible to ignore the visions of Smith scootin' around the ruck to lead Aotearoa to victories over Australia and Tonga. There are various moving parts involved and yet when pondering the low key swell of momentum that the Kiwis were riding into 2020, Smith's infectious passion and pizzazz feels most notable.
Even without any international footy, Smith's NRL status and his Aoteaora status are aligned. Keep in mind that with the Storm, Smith spent most of this season coming off the bench to play up the guts and he is the starting Aotearoa Kiwis; different roles and still definitely aligned as far as value goes.
Smith averaged 51 minutes per game for the Storm and in his 18 games this season, Smith played less than 35 minutes just twice. Both of those sub-35 minute games came in the last two games of the year as the rotations get tightened in finals footy and Smith not only played hefty minutes throughout the season, he did so in different roles without losing what he can add to a footy team.
18 games and just two games without a tackle bust, 10 games with 2+ tackle busts. Smith finished the season with five consecutive games with 2+ tackle busts, the last three of which were finals footy and that means that while Smith's minutes decreased vs Canberra Raiders then Penrith Panthers, he sustained his impact.
18 games and just three games with less than 30 post contact metres sprinkled across the season. Smith had 10 games with 40+ PCM this season, three games with 50+ PCM.
For a team such as the Storm who place a high value on doing your job to the best of your ability and trusting your comrades that they're doing the same, Smith's consistency is bonkers when you ponder what Smith can deliver with each run, each game. Smith missed 33 of 509 tackles this season, round out to 90.1 percent tackling efficiency and averaged 111m per game, giving the Storm a bloke who regardless of position, is going to bust tackles and generate a tempo through the middle.
That same consistency applies to stuff that can't be measured. Smith rips in every game, every play within the game where Smith is involved comes with a certain level of energy and ruthlessness. In soaking up plenty of Storm mana, this is a key recruitment ideal for the Storm as they definitely hunt out the best natural ballers but also require a passion, competitiveness and ethic in their players. Smith is a fine example of this as he's been on the radar since playing Under 20s with North Queensland Cowboys and was impossible to miss in the 2016 Junior Kiwis, meaning that he's a gifted footballer as well as having all the intangibles that have made the Storm the most successful NRL club of my lifetime.
In this Bloke In Bar podcast with Denan Kemp, Smith outlines how he would catch the ferry from Waiheke Island to Auckland and then bus or train to his various footy trainings around Auckland - by himself as a youngster. Maybe you've never caught public transport in Auckland or around Aotearoa, maybe you have and use it wisely; you definitely haven't spent weeknights by yourself dabbling in ferry, bus and/or train transport.
There is also an enlightened aspect of Smith, perhap nurtured by his adventurous earlier years that saw him chase the footy dream within Auckland and then moving to Australia to join his brother where he lived the dream as a teenager away from his parents. Brodie Croft told Andrew Voss on the Fox Sports player clips about Smith yarn of trees communicating with each other and while Voss blew it off, trees are definitely communicating with each other in Aotearoa.
This is a dude who followed the call of footy and let that call take him on a rather crazy adventure that definitely isn't over. The most notable factor in forecasting Smith's next year or two with Melbourne Storm is the Cameron Smith/Harry Grant conundrum, which based on what Smith did this season isn't really a conundrum because Smith adds value to the Storm as a middle forward and he also combines Aotearoa/Storm values to roll team-first, doing his job.
Coming from Aotearoa, I'm not fussed where Smith plays for Melbourne Storm as Smith will have his mits on the Kiwis #9 jersey for a while. Sure, if the Storm require Smith to bulk up or re-jig his body for strict middle forward duties, then the transition could get weird. That doesn't sound like anything the Storm would do though and we may be graced with a lovely scenario where we an celebrate middle forward/job-doing Champ Cheese for the Storm and dummy half Champ Cheese for Aotearoa Kiwis.
Dummy half Champ Cheese for Aotearoa Kiwis is rather exciting when you ponder the young-ish crop of Kiwis forwards that will play around Smith in the coming years. Nelson Asofa-Solomona, James Fisher-Harris, Briton Nikora, Corey Harawira-Naera, Joseph Tapine and Braden Hamlin-Uele are all settled in the NRL and Aotearoa Kiwis, while Josh Aloiai and Marata Niukore are on the rise. Jordan Riki will be a factor soon enough, while there are other fun pockets to keep tabs on such as the Cowboys where Emry Pere, Wiremu Greig and Griffin Neame are emerging.
Dylan Brown, Joseph Manu, Jahrome Hughes, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Ken Maumalo? I could go on and on with the younger crop of Aotearoa Kiwis talent on offer, plus coming through. As long as Smith is healthy and available, he will hold down the dummy half role and while there are other dummy half options such as Danny Levi; this isn't Aotearoa's strongest position as far as depth goes. Nor does it have to be when Smith is on the scene.
Culturally, there aren't many Aotearoa athletes on Smith's level right now. You can debate or yarn about who is bigger, funkier and more important, but I'd have Smith in the same group as Israel Adesanya, Steven Adams and Ross Taylor as Aotearoa athletes who operate in a different cultural sphere to the rest of Aotearoa's sporting excellence. Smith tapped into a cultural relevance that is upper-echelon for Aotearoa and Smith also blasted his way to that upper-echelon in Australia.
Smith's passion and love of footy, maybe you can even extract a love for life from what Champ Cheese does on and off the field, has got him to where he's at right now. In a time where so many kiwis appear to enjoy complaining about Aotearoa or various folks not wanting to represent Aotearoa, Champ Cheese loves Aotearoa and just like the land of the long white cloud deserves an international representative like Steven Adams, Aotearoa deserves a bloke like Brandon Smith the Champ Cheese.
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Peace and love.