Cameron Smith has hit back at suggestions from NRL legend Greg Alexander that the Melbourne Storm are responsible for the hip-drop tackles currently plaguing the game. Brisbane forward Patrick Carrigan was suspended for four games this week after a tackle that broke Jackson Hastings' ankle. However Smith returned serve to Alexander to deny that suggestion. “Alexander is a great analyst of the game and one of the greatest players of our game,” Smith said. “I just don’t know how he came up with that comment. To single out one club and to say that they introduced that tackle into our sport, that’s over the top. “I can’t ever recall seeing Brandy at one of our training sessions throughout my career and my 20 years at Melbourne. “I work with Brandy on our radio station and he’s a great fella, but to single out the Melbourne Storm, that’s really unfair, really unfair. “To say that a club or even clubs now are practising or teaching their players to fall into the back of legs, I think that’s a little bit over the top.” “I didn’t think it was any type of revelation when I made those comments about the hip-drop emanating out of Melbourne Storm,” he said. “I thought it was just general consensus that over the last 20 years that all the tackles, the wrestling techniques had come out of Melbourne. “I might be generalising or even jumping to a conclusion, but I don’t think I am. “These tackles over the last 20 years, all the different types of techniques, they appear in the game and it takes the game a little while to catch up to them. “I think history shows - and it’s not a stretch for me to jump to a Melbourne Storm conclusion - that the grapple, the chicken wing, the rolling pin, the crusher, the hip-drop... I think they all emanate out of Melbourne.“Melbourne have led the way. They have changed the game back in 2002-3 where the wrestle became part of the game.”
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