IT IS an insight into Matt Geyer's personality and why he is so respected at the Melbourne Storm that he yesterday would not let his captain Cameron Smith get away with praising him without at least a bit of difficulty.

Smith was asked about his feelings that the Storm's remaining foundation player will be notching his 250th game for the club on Monday in its round-18 clash against Wests Tigers. He managed to say "250 games is a huge achievement for an individual" before Geyer interjected with "so is captaining your country" — the Storm's veteran utility referring to Smith's elevation to that position for the past two Tests matches for Australia.

Geyer has been the ultimate team man at the Storm and was again yesterday reluctant to make too much of the individual significance of the milestone. The 32-year-old, who registered 250 overall career games earlier this season, is the Storm's longest-serving active player, having made his club debut against Western Suburbs in round two, 1998, after playing six games for Western Reds in 1997. He cemented his position in the team in the premiership year of 1999.

Yesterday, he said that after 11 seasons with the club, this one was the most special. "The fact that I got here, I'm chuffed," Geyer said. "But if I didn't get here, I would have had no reason for wanting more out of the game. As I got on in my career, 200 games became a real goal … I've won a couple of premierships, I've played origin, so I had no right to say I want more … but now that I'm achieving it, it's fantastic.

"I achieved 250 career games just a couple of weeks ago and it meant a lot. I never want to dismiss what I did at the Reds and what they did for me but playing 250 for this club, I really hold that in high stead."

Smith, when he was allowed to finish his sentence, said Geyer had shown rare loyalty and character.

"It's pretty much unheard of these days … it's very much a business and obviously he's shown a lot of loyalty to the Storm," he said. "He's been a great player for the Storm for 11 years now and I think it's just desserts for a loyal bloke.

"It's few and far between for a bloke to play 250 for a club. It's more common for someone to play 100 for a club and go somewhere else and play a 100 so it's a massive achievement with the way footy is now that he's doing it."