There is one sure-fire way to determine if you have reached the pinnacle of your sport. It comes when your sport officially accepts your name as a verb in everyday use.
In rugby league circles, that man – and verb – is Cameron Smith.
To Cameron Smith something means to produce a quality and polished performance that goes largely unrecognised and yet is crucial to your team's success.
Again on Wednesday night he quietly went about his business and was awarded the man of the match for doing what he does week in and week out.
Ultimate League statistics back this up. The Storm hooker has the highest average in Ultimate league this year of 64. In State of Origin I, Smith replicated his club form by scoring 64 points, which included 53 tackles and setting up the first try for Cooper Cronk.
There are no bells and whistles about his play, just a rare combination of quantity and quality. Remarkably, if he maintains the rate of scoring he will almost match his season total from last year of 1424, which was slightly down on the previous year's tally of 1452.
Hence the phrase a Cameron Smith-like performance is now a popular one.
His opposite number on Wednesday night produced a Smith-like performance, with Robbie Farah churning out a game-high 72 Ultimate League points on the back of a mammoth 60 tackles with a bung shoulder.
He was part of the quality Blues front-row, with Aaron Woods (49) and James Tamou (44) also churning out good numbers. Fullback Josh Dugan was the second-best point-scoring Blues player with 51.
For the Queenslanders, Smith led the way with his score of 64, with Sam Thaiday (51) and Matt Scott (43) the next best.
All eyes return to club land on Friday night for the start of round 12. Be sure to keep on eye on any late changes from Origin I to ensure you have a full team for this week's games. This week four new players were added to the player list, with Chad Redman, Clint Newton, Tim Robinson and Daniel Alvaro now available to buy.
