Brandon Smith denies reports he wants to buy out of Melbourne Storm NRL contract

Brandon Smith has denied reports he is willing to sacrifice $200,000 of his salary to get away from the Melbourne Storm.

The Sun-Herald reported Smith was willing to sacrifice a big chunk of his salary for his remaining contracted season to find a new team.

Smith has been named starting hooker to kick off the Storm’s first season since the retirement of Cameron Smith, but Harry Grant is the Storm’s preferred number nine.

Fresh off his one-year loan to the Tigers, Grant was set to start at dummy half until a knee injury ruled him out for the first few rounds of the season.

Smith, the starting hooker for New Zealand, has said he wants to be a long-term number nine, rather than filling the utility forward role he has been forced into in Melbourne.

But he used Instagram to deny the reports he was planning to exploit potential new rules around transfers to buy his way out of Melbourne.

“Hey guys this isn’t true,” the 24-year-old wrote in an Instagram story in response to an NRL On Nine story.

The reports said Smith’s agent put several proposals to the Storm in a bid to get his player out early.

The story of Smith wanting an early exit came the same weekend The Courier Mail reported Cameron Munster was open to the idea of joining the new Brisbane NRL team if and when it came into the league.

ARL Commission chairman Peter V’Landys said a 17th side could be added by 2022 or 2023 and Rockhampton native Munster was asked about the prospect of joining the expansion team.

“If another Brisbane team comes in, I won’t say no to going back home,” Munster told News Corp.

“I do see myself moving to Queensland after football and if a second Brisbane team comes in, I could go back earlier than expected.

“I wouldn’t say no to that [joining a second Brisbane team] … for sure.”