Brandon Smith celebrates with Kiwis fans after a win at Mt Smart in 2018. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
Anaylsis: The charges against Kiwi rugby league international Brandon Smith look set to spark a turning point in his career, even if he is eventually cleared by the courts.
Following an investigation by a Queensland Police unit targeting organised crime, Smith is charged with buying drugs for supply and providing inside knowledge for sports betting.
On the first charge, it is being reported in Australian media that Smith allegedly bought cocaine on behalf of a Roosters teammate, on the second that he was passing information to the drug supplier.
Smith's lawyer says his client will plead not guilty, and his club has been briefing journalists Smith was not even in Queensland at the time of the alleged offences.
The 29-year-old has played 13 tests for the Kiwis and 152 first grade games. He's a utility forward who prefers to play dummy half, but can also be used off the replacement bench as a lock, causing havoc as the other forwards tire.
But more than that, he's a colourful personality who is equal parts popular and unpopular within the game.
Early life
Born on Waiheke Island in 1996, Smith has been playing rugby league since he was four years old.
As a child he had to travel by ferry from Waiheke to Auckland several times a week to play the game he loved. In the rest of his spare time he was put to work by his parents who were cleaners.
His promise as a footballer shone early and he was sent to Australia while still in his teens, to live with his older brother who was also pursuing a NRL dream. But the brother was not the most meticulous of absentee parents and Smith largely did as he pleased.
Early career
On the field, he played for the North Queensland Cowboys junior team for two years, winning the national award for Hooker of the Year in 2016. But the Cowboys sacked him after he was involved in a public fight which involved him punching a policeman.
Smith was picked up by the Melbourne Storm whose tough old coach Craig Bellamy promised him "we'll make you a better person".
Melbourne is an AFL stronghold, so players moving there have to leave family and friends behind and turn to each other for mates. The intense family atmosphere of the club suited young Smith.
The Cheese and his professional career
He became popular with his teammates who loved his jokes and pranks, once filling a bag belonging to his grumpy coach with rocks, leaving Bellamy wondering why he was suddenly struggling to take his bag off the bus.
On the field, he was one of the players fans love to watch. He's short and stocky but would barrel into his opponents, often breaking the tackles of much bigger men.
This saw him given a nickname which stuck; commentator Andrew Johns claimed to see some similarity with the cheese wheels rolled down hills in Gloucester in England, and christened him "the Block of Cheese".
Smith is now far more often called "Cheese" than "Brandon".
After the Storm's 2020 premiership win he conducted a series of hilarious post-game interviews, promising to drink more than any of his teammates and declaring Bellamy to have contributed "piss all" to the team's success.
In the NRL most players contribute nothing but banalities in interviews - Smith always has something interesting to say, and it's usually humorous.
But the following year, he fell out with the Storm; a video showed Smith and two teammates taking a substance that looked like cocaine. A tearful public apology followed.
He then began a tour of other clubs to see who he would play for next. He signed a lucrative contract with the Sydney Roosters and in a podcast interview about his decision dropped 60 F-bombs with a few C-bombs thrown in for good measure.
Perhaps worse, he declared how inspired he was by the Roosters jersey, at a time when he still had a had a year to go at Melbourne.
In 2023 Smith moved to Sydney and the Roosters. His time there did not go as he would have hoped. Moved to hooker, his running style didn't always fit in with the team's need for an on-field general. It was reported he had fallen out with senior teammates and the club issued a breach notice when he failed to turn up to a team meeting. Journalists reported he was dealing with "personal issues". Then he had a major injury setback with both the ACL and MCL torn. He spent a year on the sidelines.
But he has spent at least some of his time in Sydney trying to build a profile. He appears weekly on a podcast with former player James Graham, and he drops into radio and TV shows regularly.
The Roosters hired New South Wales hooker Reece Robson and it became clear the club wanted to offload Smith. He eventually signed with the South Sydney Rabbitohs whose veteran coach Wayne Bennett is well-known for getting the best of the game's bad boys.
Just four games back and the news of the charges is another setback.
Smith's lawyer says he will plead not guilty but even if he is cleared of the charges, links to drugs and organised crime may damage his reputation. An electrifying on-field performer at his best and an entertainer on and off the field, Smith's future looks uncertain.
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