“Gone too far”: Cam Smith shocked by Harry Grant charge

Rugby league great Cameron Smith says the NRL have “gone too far” after Melbourne Storm hooker Harry Grant was charged and sent to the sin bin for making minor contact on a kick chase with Cronulla’s Daniel Atkinson.

The Queensland Maroons star was sin-binned in the 35th minute of the Storm’s loss to Cronulla on Saturday night in a moment, which left Grant, most rugby league fans and Smith “shocked”.

Melbourne will challenge Grant’s Grade One Dangerous Contact charge and $1000 fine at the NRL judiciary tonight.

“I was watching this game quite intently… when this happened, I was shocked,” Smith said on SENQ Breakfast.

“Now I know we have seen some injuries occur, we’re talking Lachy Ilias with that leg injury when there was some kick pressure put on him.

“(But) the other night with the Harry Grant thing on Dan Atkinson, he barely brushed his leg so I think common sense needs to prevail here.

“As a game I think we’re going a little too far as to protect players from contact. A lot of this stuff is just incidental stuff.

“Like I’m telling you Dan Atkinson… there’s no way, he would’ve hardly felt that contact from Harry Grant.

“I can understand the NRL cracking down on direct or forceful contact with the legs of particularly kickers, let’s acknowledge they are in a vulnerable position when they’re kicking.

“But to charge someone and to put someone in the sin bin for that incident the other night… I think we’ve gone a little bit overboard with all of this stuff.”

When asked how would some of the great kick-chasers, such as Maroons legend Steve Price, cope with today’s rules, Smith said they would be spending a lot of time on the sidelines.

“The way Steve Price used to do it was, he used to get a lot of charge downs, but the way he did it was he’d fly out of the defensive line and then dive to try and knock the ball down on a kick, and there were times where he actually made contact with kickers," Smith said.

“That would be completely outlawed now.”

Grant risks a $1500 fine if he and the Storm are unsuccessful at the judiciary.