Craig Bellamy encouraged Jahrome Hughes to let our skipper know about it if he put a foot wrong while playing at halfback on Thursday night, but Hughesy went easy on his new halves partner.
"Craig gave me the green light to spray him, but I couldn't do it," Hughesy said with a laugh when he fronted the media on Monday.
I just gave him a polite reminder a few times that he wasn’t playing hooker, he was in the halves.
Jahrome Hughes
"He just said ‘yeah, sorry, sorry.’
"I could never spray him... that's too scary for me.
"If I had sprayed him I might have been dropped the week after so I think I did the right thing by going easy," he added with a grin.
While Bellamy revealed post-match that Smithy - the most capped player in the NRL - was nervous about his move to halfback, Hughesy said the 419 gamer didn't show it.
"I’ve never really seen him nervous, I don’t even know what that looks like," Hughesy said.
"He was cool and calm on the field as he always is."
Many viewers expected the ball to come to Hughesy in the final minute of play, but Smith continued to pivot and flicked the ball to Ryan Papenhuyzen, who slotted the field goal that sent us to golden point.
"I’m stoked it went to paps… I’m probably sixth string for drop kicking," Hughesy laughed.
"Paps has been practicing heaps. He was the right guy to take the kick and he proved it."
