Smith and Slater Statue

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sallymay
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https://www.melbournestorm.com.au/news/ ... ep-closer/

Australian-based, internationally renowned sculpture artists Gillie and Marc are set to immortalise club legends Cameron Smith and Billy Slater in statue, thanks to the Victorian Government.

The artists have been announced today as the successful applicants to design and produce the statues which will be located adjacent to Storm’s home ground at AAMI Park.

Over 25 years, Gillie and Marc have developed a worldwide reputation for delivering quality private and public artworks.

Their work can be found in major art galleries and public sites in more than 250 cities around the world, including their recent production of 10 sculptures of the world’s most inspirational women set in New York City, featuring Oprah Winfrey, Jane Goodall, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett and P!nk.

Smith and Slater each boast a long list of outstanding achievements reflecting the amazing and dominant athletes they are and their remarkable resilience at the top of the game over long and distinguished careers.

The statues will recognise and celebrate the successful careers of both players, immortalising them in sporting history and helping to inspire the next generation of Victorian rugby league players and supporters.

Billy Slater is recognised as one of the all-time great rugby league fullbacks to play the game, having played more than 300 games for Storm.

He is a dual premiership player and Clive Churchill Medallist, a Dally M Medallist and ranks second for the greatest number of tries scored by any player in NRL history.

Slater represented the Queensland Maroons 31 times in State of Origin and the Australian Kangaroos 30 times in internationals.

Cameron Smith has been captain of Melbourne Storm since 2006 and has led the team to seven grand finals and Queensland to a record 12 State of Origin titles in 13 years.

He has won every individual and collective honour in the game and along the way has broken the record for the most points scored by any player in NRL history and most games played in the NRL, having reached 400 matches in 2019.

The Victorian Government is partnering with Melbourne & Olympic Parks Trust, Melbourne Storm and the National Rugby League to deliver the statues, which will be engineered in bronze right here in Melbourne and are expected to be unveiled during the 2020 NRL season.

The Victorian Government has also committed $12 million to build the Rugby League Centre of Excellence in Broadmeadows, which will be the new home for the sport in Victoria.

In addition to Storm’s home games at AAMI Park, five major representative matches will be played in Victoria in the next six years, including State of Origin clashes in 2021 and 2025, and International Test Matches in 2022 and 2023.
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sallymay
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I’m not sure how I feel about this...obviously it’s cool but while cams still playing it just feels weird
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So...pretty weird Cronk isn't involved, right?
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yourhero
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blazza18 wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:06 pmSo...pretty weird Cronk isn't involved, right?
Not really... Not from my perspective at least.

Slater and Smith are one club players. Both are regarded as the best to ever play in their respective positions. Both are touted for immortality (Smith it is not even a question). Cronk is not any of these things.

A club legend, yes. A brilliant player, yes. On the same standing as Smith and Slater? I don't think so. Pretty sure I'm not the only one.
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yourhero wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 1:03 pm
Slater and Smith are one club players. Both are regarded as the best to ever play in their respective positions. Both are touted for immortality (Smith it is not even a question). Cronk is not any of these things.

A club legend, yes. A brilliant player, yes. On the same standing as Smith and Slater? I don't think so. Pretty sure I'm not the only one.
Agree on all points.
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yourhero wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 1:03 pm
blazza18 wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:06 pmSo...pretty weird Cronk isn't involved, right?
Not really... Not from my perspective at least.

Slater and Smith are one club players. Both are regarded as the best to ever play in their respective positions. Both are touted for immortality (Smith it is not even a question). Cronk is not any of these things.

A club legend, yes. A brilliant player, yes. On the same standing as Smith and Slater? I don't think so. Pretty sure I'm not the only one.
I'm with you yourhero.

Would love to see Cronk back at the Club in some capacity in the future and being recognised as the great player he was in his time at our Club.

But he's not on anywhere close to the same level as Smith and Slater in terms of legend status.

Being immortalised in a statue form for all posterity demands being a legendary player...not just a great player.
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blazza18
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yourhero wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 1:03 pm
blazza18 wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:06 pmSo...pretty weird Cronk isn't involved, right?
Not really... Not from my perspective at least.

Slater and Smith are one club players. Both are regarded as the best to ever play in their respective positions. Both are touted for immortality (Smith it is not even a question). Cronk is not any of these things.

A club legend, yes. A brilliant player, yes. On the same standing as Smith and Slater? I don't think so. Pretty sure I'm not the only one.
We're not recognising them for being the best ever in their positions. We're recognising them to who they were at the Storm. To me it should be celebrating them together.

Or we just recognise Smith and give him his own statue.
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yourhero
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Fair enough. I’m sure lots of Storm fans will agree with you.

I think it is a mixture of how good they were as players, what they brought to the game, what they brought to the club and what they brought to the Melbourne sporting community as a whole.

On each of those things Smith and Slater stand out well ahead of Cronk. IMO.
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Cooper can't have a statue, his wife doesn't let him come to Melbourne
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yourhero wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 7:36 pm Fair enough. I’m sure lots of Storm fans will agree with you.

I think it is a mixture of how good they were as players, what they brought to the game, what they brought to the club and what they brought to the Melbourne sporting community as a whole.

On each of those things Smith and Slater stand out well ahead of Cronk. IMO.
And a big up yours to Cronk.
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sallymay
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yourhero wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 1:03 pm
blazza18 wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:06 pmSo...pretty weird Cronk isn't involved, right?
Not really... Not from my perspective at least.

Slater and Smith are one club players. Both are regarded as the best to ever play in their respective positions. Both are touted for immortality (Smith it is not even a question). Cronk is not any of these things.

A club legend, yes. A brilliant player, yes. On the same standing as Smith and Slater? I don't think so. Pretty sure I'm not the only one.
100% agree
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I'm very torn on this.

Smith > Slater > Cronk in terms of status as all-time rankings for their positions

But I don't know if the club would have had such success without the three of them together. All our GF victories (excl 1999) have had the three of them feature quite prominently. They were constantly referred to as 'The Big Three'.

I also feel like perhaps Bellyache needs to have a statue as well. The most successful chapter of our club's history would not have been possible without the likes of all four of them IMHO.
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Smith, Slater and Bellamy are all one club men and automatically associated with the Storm. If you include Cronk an argument could be made for Inglis...
blazza18
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Going to be honest, I also don’t automatically associate the 300+ gamer, 4 time grand final winner and 2 time nrl player of the year winner with the Storm either.
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Stormhunter wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2020 7:49 pm Smith, Slater and Bellamy are all one club men and automatically associated with the Storm. If you include Cronk an argument could be made for Inglis...
Inglis wasn't part of our 2012 and 2017 premiership teams so I don't think he's in the same category.
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