Smith also joined Storm coach Craig Bellamy in placing Slater as the game's best ever full-back although he added he hadn't seen every No.1 in history.
Friends forever: Cameron Smith and Billy Slater.
Photo: Quentin Jones
"I haven't been around the game as long as Craig has but I've had the pleasure of playing with some wonderful full-back and he is by far the best full-back I've played with," Smith said.
"Luckily I haven't had to play against him and I'm saying that will all due respect to those who have played full-back."
Smith was asked if Slater was a better full-back than former Storm star Greg Inglis who moved into the full-back role at South Sydney and, at times, at represenative level while Slater was out injured.
"I must say he is a better full-back than Greg, but Greg hasn't had the opportunities that Billy has had over such a long period of time," Smith said.
"Greg was picked at five-eighth in our 20-year team so he must be our best five-eighth."
The Storm are turning their attention to fixing some defensive issues which arose in the first-half of their 36-18 win over Canterbury in Perth on Saturday night.
Bringing Slater back into the side for this week will help fix some of those problems, but Smith said the team couldn’t afford a repeat of those issues against a feisty, young Tigers side who upset Sydney Roosters last Sunday.
“There were lots of pleasing aspects but there were a lot of things we were a little bit off in,” Smith said.
“A lot of times when we were attacking the Bulldogs’ try line we were a bit clunky.
“Our first efforts in defence weren’t great and weren’t at our standards.
“We addressed that the next day when we did our review and recovery in Perth. While it was pleasing to go out and score 36 points against a good Bulldogs side, we have plenty of improvement left in us.”
The Tigers attracted plenty of admirers with their win on Sunday led by unheralded winger Corey Thompson and veteran playmaker Benji Marshall, but Smith said the Storm coaches had tracked the side during preseason and were impressed with their development.
“They just played a tough, simple style of football,” Smith said.
“They didn’t give the Roosters many opportunities when they had the ball and they had a strong kicking game with Benji Marshall returning to Wests Tigers, he is a smart footballer.
"Defensively they were quite aggressive and defended well together.
“We are not coming into the game thinking about where the Wests Tigers finished last year, we are going on the form they showed against the Roosters last week and that’s how we will approach it.”
The Storm play Wests Tigers at AAMI Park on Saturday at 7.30pm.
Comments disabled
Roy Ward is a Sports writer for The Age.
Morning & Afternoon Newsletter
Delivered Mon–Fri.
[contf] [contfnew] 
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
[contfnewc] [contfnewc]
