"I was just using an extreme analogy and wasn't trying to cause offence to anyone," Gallop said. The Test hooker was listening on the line while Gallop was interviewed by hosts Terry Kennedy and Michael Slater before being put to air and asked for his response. "I guess it is a little bit upsetting ... [with] the timing of it all," Smith said. "David, I guess, realises now that it is the wrong thing to say. "I was a bit surprised that it took him so long in that interview to say that he regretted it and I think it took you, TK [Terry Kennedy], to ask him that but we move on. David is obviously entitled to his opinion. He is the boss of our game." Asked how he thought Storm fans would feel about Gallop's comments, Smith said: "I think they will be fired up even more now. People are here are very passionate about sport and particularly Melbourne Storm fans about our club and of course they are going to boo David Gallop.

"They are disappointed about what happened last year and the decision to move the premierships from the history books but he has got a pretty hard job. "I know he faced an icy reception up at Manly a couple of weeks prior but there is nothing the players in the NRL can do about that. Obviously when we travel away as a football team to opposition grounds, we get booed a lot as well. Is that poor behaviour? No, we believe that is just part of the game and if we can cop it every week then I think so should everyone else." Yesterday, the SportsDay Qld host John Rothfield, better known as Dr Turf, was left incredulous at the statement made by Gallop on his program "That's possibly the worst analogy I have ever heard in my life, with all due respect, David," Rothfield said to Gallop. But Gallop stood by the comparison.

"Well, it's a topical one at the moment [in reference to the memorial services for the September 11 attacks that occurred earlier on Monday in New York (AEST)]." After being quizzed by the show's co-host Brad Fittler, he went on to say: "I obviously didn't enjoy it [the abuse] but I'm absolutely confident we made the right decision [to punish the Storm for salary cap breaches in 2010]." The boos towards Gallop from the crowd on Sunday started as he walked from the players' race on to the field at AAMI Park. They reached fever pitch as he tried to speak, drowned out as some in the crowd started a "Gallop's a wanker" chant. Gallop realised he was on a hiding to nothing and kept the speech short, with even those out on the field unable to decipher his words before he handed the shield and a trophy over to Storm boss Ron Gauci.

with agencies