NRL great and former Maroons Origin captain Cameron Smith has added fuel to the 2021 rumour mill, putting his hard-earned Storm earnings down on a home in QLD – here’s a first look inside.
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While the beloved Maroons great this week confirmed that he had played his last game for Melbourne Storm, hope has sprung among Queenslanders after reports of a secret meeting with the coach of the Gold Coast Titans.
While we cannot speculate if he’ll be siding with the Titans next season in whatever shape or form, what we can confirm is that Smith has put his hard-earned Melbourne Storm NRL earnings down on this house in the Gold Coast hinterland.
The plan for an iso life in Queensland post Melbourne Storm was months in the making, sparked when the team was based in the state for training during COVID-19.
Smith’s purchase is a four-bedroom house, with a study, on half an acre at Bonogin – a small community of under 5,000 people in the Gold Coast hinterland.
Records show he paid $855,000, and struck the deal in May, though the location has only now been revealed.
The site he chose is fully fenced with a large 4671sq m block, and the house is unexpectedly modest for such a megastar.
What the property does have though is loads of room for a growing family, with three living areas, a separate children’s wing and a large in-ground pool.
While the house is ripe for a renovation, the acreage property makes sense for Smith, who has three children, two daughters and a son, with his wife Barbara Johnson.
Kahlee Townsend of Ray White Robina, who sold the property to Smith, declined to comment on the sale stating confidentiality reasons.
Locals have for some time predicted that Smith would buy somewhere on the beach in the southern suburbs of Burleigh or Currumbin, after he was spotted shopping in local surf shops earlier in the year. While Bonogin is a little farther inland, it is still within easy striking distance of the coast.
Smith, who was born in Logan in Greater Brisbane, has stated in the past that his retirement plan was to move to the Gold Coast.
Whether this hinterland property purchase signals game over on his career or game on for a role with the Gold Coast Titans remains to be seen.
One thing is certain for Smith, he is rarely out of the news. This week he made headlines across several states for the launch of his book The Storm Within: Cameron Smith:
The autobiography of a legend, which attracted immediate criticism from former NRL boss David Gallop who accused him of being “just plain wrong” about the 2010 salary cap scandal investigation.