Melbourne Storm forward Brandon Smith was just packing up the car to drive to Albury on Tuesday when his phone buzzed.
Story credit: Herald Sun | @gouldyheraldsun & @NickSmart85 .
It was a group text message — sent by Storm football boss Frank Ponissi — to every player and staff telling them to cool their jets for now.
“Don’t get on the highway yet,” Storm football boss Frank Ponissi said in the message.
Smith, who had just completed two weeks quarantine in a Melbourne hotel room without any fresh air after returning from New Zealand, couldn’t help but chuckle at it all.
“It was funny. I was pretty much just about to leave Melbourne when I got the text saying ‘hold up, don’t go to Albury, this might not be happening,” Smith said.
“We were almost about to head to Sydney on the plane, as the next option.
“Thankfully, (chief executive) Dave Donaghy was able to work some magic and we got a good training paddock at the Albury Tigers AFL club and it may have worked out for the best for us.”
After that hurdle was cleared, Storm was on its way across the border to New South Wales.
