Melbourne's premiership defence was dealt a savage double blow last night with Test stars Cameron Smith and Ryan Hoffman ruled out for the rest of the season.
Smith was banned for two games by the NRL judiciary for a grapple tackle while second-rower Hoffman had ankle surgery yesterday which also ruled him out of Australia's World Cup campaign next month.
Smith was rubbed out of tomorrow's preliminary final against Cronulla and possibly next week's grand final after becoming just the third player to be found guilty at the judiciary of unnecessary contact with the head or neck of a player.
If the Storm loses to the Sharks, then Smith will miss Australia's opening World Cup clash with New Zealand on October26.
The grapple tackle is seen as a cancer in the game but it has been notoriously tough to prove at a judiciary hearing with just two of eight guilty verdicts returned since 2005.
But last night's verdict, which cost the game's highest-profile player a chance to play in two crucial games, will be seen by many as the first real blow in the fight to eradicate the wrestling technique from the game.
The panel of Royce Ayliffe, Darrell Williams and Darren Britt took just 17 minutes to return their ruling and it left Smith a forlorn figure.
''Obviously, I think I had a fair hearing tonight. I'm very disappointed with the outcome,'' Smith said.
The loss of Smith is a huge blow to the Storm as he is not only the competition's best hooker but also Melbourne's goalkicker.
Coach Craig Bellamy is likely to thrust either retiring veteran Matt Geyer or electric fullback Billy Slater into the dummy-half role against Cronulla with Russ Aitken the man most likely to join the squad.
Melbourne's New Zealand Test forward Jeremy Smith is also out this week after accepting a one-game ban on Tuesday for a chicken wing offence in the same tackle on Brisbane's Sam Thaiday.
Cameron Smith admitted to the panel that he made contact with Thaiday's chin but claimed it was unintentional and came about because the Bronco deliberately tried to fall to the ground.
''Sam is a known surrenderer,'' Smith said.
''I was trying to get some momentum and get him on his back.''
Smith said he never realised his hand was on Thaiday's neck until he turned sideways in the tackle at which stage he ''immediately released'' his grip.
''The whole tackle took three seconds. Contact with his face was one second at most, if not less,'' Smith told the panel. ''It is hard to rectify faster than that, I think.''
When asked by prosecutor Peter Kite ''you were pulling him by his head'', Smith replied, ''That's right.''
Kite also claimed Smith made two efforts to ''yank'' Thaiday's head before he eventually released his dangerous grip.
It is the second grapple tackle charge against Smith this year and the ninth against a Storm player in four years. AAP
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