'Classic Fatty': Vautin's cheeky Smith stitch-up

Cameron Smith was caught unaware after a classic stitch-up by Nine NRL commentator Paul Vautin before Friday night's preliminary final between the Storm and Raiders.

The question on everyone's lips this year has been whether Smith will hang up the boots and retire following this NRL season, or whether he will be tempted to play on.

The 37-year-old has kept everybody guessing, at times dodging the retirement question, and at other times claiming to not even be sure himself of what he will do at season's end.

On Friday evening as Smith prepared to take on Canberra at Suncorp Stadium - which could well have been his final rugby league match in his hometown of Brisbane if he does indeed retire after this season - the veteran hooker was interviewed pre-game by Vautin.

While the interview that aired before Melbourne's 30-10 preliminary final victory over Canberra seemed fairly standard, after the game it was revealed that Vautin tried a cheeky trick on Smith.

"I'm not going to ask you about retiring, so don't worry about it," Vautin was heard telling Smith before the interview began.

Then 'Fatty' did exactly what he said he wouldn't.

"Cam are you retiring after this game?" Vautin said, prompting Smith to burst into laughter.

Following Melbourne's win over Canberra to make the 2020 NRL grand final, Smith again spoke to Nine and addressed the hilarious moment.

"That's classic Fatty Vautin, that one," Smith said.

Fatty's cheeky Smith retirement question

In his 534th first-grade game, Smith was in impeccable form, scoring 10 points with the boot, and making 30 tackles in 75 minutes on the field.

Smith came off with five minutes left in the game with the Storm seemingly over the line against the Raiders. He appeared to do a bit of a victory lap as he ran to the sideline, waving to fans as they roared in appreciation.

He explained post-game that the reason he came of was not to greet fans, but to ensure he didn't get himself wiped from the NRL season finale by the judiciary.

"The message to me was to get off the field because I had some carry-over points from that little tip tackle a couple of weeks ago, so that's why I came off," the Storm skipper told Nine.

NRL Highlights: Storm v Raiders - Preliminary Finals

"I was given half a standing ovation. I don't know why. It was very nice and I'm very grateful for all the fans out here tonight to do that.

"But for me it wasn't so much a farewell, it was more of a relief to be able to go back to another grand final. I'm just really please with the way we played tonight.

"[Canberra] did a great job getting to this prelim final and they're a tough side, a really gritty side. To be able to play we did tonight, particularly the way we started in the first 20 minutes, I was really pleased."

Smith was carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates as several Queensland fans remained to give him a heartfelt farewell.