He was considered ‘extremely unlikely’ the day after the Raider game.
By Tuesday that had changed to ‘a strong chance’.
Five days later Cameron Smith was running out for his 350th game at AAMI Park.
It was a celebration that very nearly did not happen after the Storm skipper suffered a minor pectoral strain during last week’s win over Canberra.
However the ever-durable hooker channeled those famous powers of recovery to become just the third player to reach the remarkable milestone.
“It felt really good throughout the week which is why I made the decision to play,” Smith said.
“For some reason it just responded really well and really quickly to some treatment. Let’s be honestIy don’t have the biggest pecs in the world so it didn’t take that long to recover from.
“Today I felt great… once I got out there I didn’t have any issues at all, it didn’t effect me at any stage of the game. Touch wood it stays that way for the rest of the season.”
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An early flight back from Canberra to Melbourne last Sunday saw him undergo prompt scans which provided good news.
From there the news seemed to only get better.
“By Tuesday I was very confident that I was playing even though the medical staff wanted to see how it went for the rest of the week,” Smith said.
“I understand that, we are six weeks away from finals so it really is not worth risking before finals.
“But as the week went on, it just got better and better and I started doing more work through my pec, went in the gym later in the week and was lifting weights.
“I spoke to the medical staff and they said you can’t injure it any further.”
Storm now have a five-day turnaround behind taking on the Cowboys in Townsville.
