Cameron Smith - World Best Rugby League Player

If you didn't already believe it; it's now official. Cameron Smith has been crowned the "World Best Rugby League Player."

While many in NRL Rugby League circles have believed Cameron Smith is the ultimate player; it seems the rest of the Rugby League World now think so too.

The Rugby League 'Golden Boot' Award was adjudicated by a world wide judging panel for the first time ever, Cameron Smith beat the likes of Jamie Peacock, who was an outright superstar in the UK Super League and he also beat off a challenge from NRL Rugby League star Jonathan Thurston.

In winning the Golden Boot award, Smith bucks the recent trend of recent Rugby League stars coming through the ranks - most of which are typically 'athlete clones' many relying on athletic ability rather than Rugby League creativity or individuality.

The always crafty Cameron Smith might not possess a lighting streak of speed, he doesn't have a towering build but he regularly uses his guile, passion and creativity to wreak havoc on opposing Rugby League teams.

At his NRL club the Melbourne Storm, Cameron Smith is surrounded by some of the best talent in the NRL and while he along with his team mates claimed the ultimate prize, winning the NRL Grand Final; Smith also fought hard and helped an underrated Queensland side claim the State of Origin prize in 2007.

In some ways, Cameron Smith is a throw back to the older days of Rugby League. Not blessed with blinding speed or poster boy good looks, Smith is a straight shooter and regularly uses his cunning on the field to leave enemy defence lines bamboozled by his raids.

It's refreshing to not only see a deserving winner of Rugby League's ultimate prize, and sure it's a nice victory for the NRL to have one of theirs win the prize - but ultimately, it's a win for a genuine nice guy of the NRL. Unlike some of his colleagues in Rugby League, Smith has managed to keep himself out of the troublesome limelight and continued to perform weekly on the field.

He is not an 'athlete clone' like many of today's NRL stars, he is a hard worker that relies on an astute football brain to bring out his Rugby League best each week.