Melbourne Storm have provided assurances to Cameron Smith over their handling of the recent video scandal after the club legend was critical of the process.
Vision of Cameron Munster and Brandon Smith partying in a hotel room emerged publicly earlier the week, while back-rower Chris Lewis was also involved despite not being seen on camera.
The NRL Integrity Unit is investigating the contents of the video after a white substance was seen on the table in the vision.
After it took more than 24 hours for the Storm to release a statement about the incident, Cameron Smith criticised the club for how slow it was in addressing the issue and lambasted the players for their stupidity.
However, in an interview with SMH, Storm chairman Matt Tripp revealed he has reached out to Smith about his criticism, and the former club skipper was now 'comfortable' with how the issue was handled.
Tripp explained the Storm wanted to make an immediate statement on the vision, but were asked by the NRL to wait as the competition was dealing with its own grand final issues due to COVID-19.
"I spoke with ‘Smitty’ [Smith] last night, I cleared up a few things that he wasn’t aware of, and he’s more than comfortable with the way the club has handled it," Tripp said.
"We never wanted this to fester, it’s against the Melbourne Storm’s wishes and we would have had this nipped in the bud 24 hours after we became aware of it.
"But the NRL requested we deal with it in-sync with each other. We’re still waiting on their verdict and pushing hard to get a verdict. But they also made it known they have needed to make sure the grand final goes ahead because of the [COVID-19] scare up there.
"In terms of Smitty’s criticism of the players, it’s hard to disagree with him. We are disappointed. They are extremely apologetic. You will see on Tuesday how remorseful they are.
"It’s actually become about their welfare and we have to look after these boys. They’re upset because they know they made a bad choice and the ramifications are greater than they ever anticipated.
"There is zero tolerance at the club, we strive to be better than most, and we need to fix that."
