Although he won't be adding to his record breaking games tally when Melbourne do battle with Manly on Friday night, Cameron Smith will be back in the Storm's fold.
The future immortal has reportedly been employed by his former club to address his former teammates ahead of their week one finals match-up against the in-form Sea Eagles.
After hanging up his boots in the week leading up to Round 1 of this season, Smith has taken a step back from Rugby League commitments, instead preferring to comment from distance.
However, as there is no name in the game that has more experience when it comes to rousing the troops in September, Storm football manager Frank Ponissi suggested it took little thought before reaching out to the nine-time Dally M Hooker of the Year.
"We got Cam to speak to the guys via zoom last week, we got him on there as part of getting our heads ready for finals," he told NRL.com.
"Cam spoke to the team, we'd be crazy not to use him for his expertise and experience, he's played 42 finals, more than anyone else.
"He gave a couple of messages and pointed out a few things that the boys should be focusing on for the finals.
"We taped something with Smithy and used certain parts of it as an address to the team.
"That's the first time he's spoken to the whole group since the start of the season when he presented Jesse Bromwich [co-captain Dale Finucane was out injured] in round one with his first jersey as captain."
With 535-games of experience for his club, state and country, many of the markers Smith laid down across his 19-year first-grade career are unlikely to ever be bettered.
Having spent the entirety of his career within a purple jersey, the Queenslander's deeds will forever be linked with the expansion franchise, and although his positional baton has been passed to a pair of more than handy rakes this season, his presence is still felt in and around AAMI Park.
"You look at Smithy's record, the amount of finals games he's played and big games he's played," incumbent Hooker Harry Grant said of his predecessor.
"He's such an experienced competitor and we're definitely going to miss that."
Still, as a video message is never going to break lines or act as a conduit from the ruck to the backs, the fellow Queenslander suggested that it was up to the contemporary crop of players to continue Smith's legacy.
"In saying that, it's not up to myself or Brandon, it more as a group sharing that around and knowing what Cam did so well for the team over the past 20-odd years, and then as a group collectively put that into our game," Grant continued.
The 23-year-old's views on Smith were echoed by forward Christian Welch who claimed that the two-time Golden Boot winner's nous had been his greatest asset.
"The way he manages games that's the thing we've missed the most with Cam," Welch said.
"Obviously Brandon and Harry bring a different skill set, probably a bit more physical in having the speed to get out of [dummy] half.
"And that's really suited the quicker pace of the game but at the same time we need to learn to play a game with patience.
"That was one of Cameron Smith's strengths, when the halves and the fullbacks are calling for the ball, he had the ability to ignore them and play flat, fast and through the middle to grind teams out.
"I think it's an underrated skill that our hookers are starting to learn and in finals it's really important to have that mentality of patience and grinding teams out.
"We'll be looking to have that against Manly on Friday."
Despite claiming the minor premiership after their 28-16 victory over Cronulla last Friday, Melbourne enter the first week of the finals with a pair of questions marks beside the names of integral operators in Cameron Munster and Josh Addo-Carr.
According to NRL.com reporter Dan Walsh, Munster is on the mend after undergoing routine surgery on his infected knee and will be given every chance to run out onto Sunshine Coast Stadium this weekend.
However, a call on Addo-Carr's hamstring is set to come earlier in the week, with Walsh claiming it is highly unlikely that the condition of the ailment would improve dramatically over the course of this week.
The Smith inspired Storm will face Manly on the Gold Coast at 7:50pm AEST on Friday night.
