Storm’s Smith helps Thurston find NRL form

A word of advice in the ear of his good mate, North Queensland maestro Johnathan Thurston, could come back to haunt Melbourne skipper Cameron Smith when the two NRL sides clash in Melbourne on Saturday.

Early in the season, Thurston was struggling with his switch from halfback to five-eighth and Smith gave his Queensland State of Origin teammate some words of wisdom.

“I said to him, mate, just go back to playing the way you did with the No.7 on your back and things will be alright,” Smith said on Friday.

“Early on, he was trying to stay on one side of the field and let Ray Thompson take the other side but now he’s everywhere and that’s when he’s playing his best football.

“It’s when he’s commanding the football and he’s running the side.”

Smith had a plan to minimise Thurston at AAMI Park: “I might have to shadow him and every time he gets the ball tackle him, hopefully.”

With Origin taking its toll, Smith was rested by coach Craig Bellamy from the Storm’s demoralising loss to Canberra last weekend.

“Now I’m feeling the rewards for it and looking forward to the big game,” said Smith.

The competition front-runners have lost three of their past four games.

Smith said he wasn’t bothered by the run of losses given the impact of Origin, but was in the manner his side succumbed to the Raiders who ran in seven tries which left him “shocked”.

“The reality is that you’re going to lose games during the year,” said Smith.

“The most disappointing thing watching the match was our defence – I can’t remember the last time we let seven tries in because we pride ourselves on our defence.

“We were pretty soft … I think you’re going to see a totally different side defensively this week.”

The Australian skipper dismissed the suggestion that the Storm were a one or two-player side unable to win without himself and injured fullback Billy Slater, who is set to miss the match but return against Parramatta the following Saturday.

“I don’t like going down that line of thought,” he said.

“Craig said we might be a little disjointed with the ball when we have a couple of key position players out but defensively there’s no excuse.

“Every player in this team can hold their own defensively and we don’t need myself or Billy to be able to stop tries.

“It’s not about a one or two or three-man team; this club prides itself on playing as a team and each player playing their role the best they can.”

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