David Shillington has labelled Cameron Smith's portrayal as "the villain" in a TV special with Alex McKinnon as "overplayed", but said he can see both sides of the story and he can't blame the former Newcastle Knights player for how he feels.
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Canberra Raiders prop Shillington has played eight Origins and 14 Tests under Queensland and Australia captain Smith, and believes Smith would have handled things differently if he knew the extent of the injury, which left McKinnon a quadriplegic.
Appearing on Channel Nine's 60 Minutes on Sunday, McKinnon labelled Smith's actions as "f---king ridiculous" as he watched footage of the Melbourne skipper arguing against a penalty after the tackle which ended his career.
Shillington can understand his point of view but believes the story reflected unfairly on Smith, and 60 Minutes later confirmed they had not offered Smith a right of reply.
"He [Smith] didn't understand the extent of the injury at the time," Shillington said.
"I can see both sides of the story, [but] I think it was overplayed last night making Cameron Smith the villain.
"You don't blame Alex McKinnon for that show last night, he was probably right to be upset in a way.
"The way the story was angled put too much heat on Cameron Smith for my liking.
"It's definitely not in his nature ... there's nothing sinister in that.
"The way he was portrayed ... I guess it made for good viewing."
Shillington said Smith had proven his qualities as a person by helping McKinnon launch the Rise for Alex round last year, and helped raise money by wearing McKinnon's no.16 for Melbourne.
"You don't hold anything against Alex McKinnon from that interview. From his point of view he was getting stretchered off and he was in some serious trouble, and Cameron Smith was arguing the point," Shillington said.
"But Cameron Smith is an amazing player and he was taking care of his players at the time. He didn't mean any disrespect with what he was saying and I thought he backed that up with his contribution to the Rise for Alex launch, the way he helped raise money.
Raiders mid-season signing Joey Leilua played alongside McKinnon with the Knights in round three last year when his mate's life changed forever.
The centre admires McKinnon's resilience and said he has the inner strength to achieve his dream of walking fiancee Teigan down the aisle.
"Wayne [Bennett, former Knights coach] and everyone was shocked, I didn't really understand what was happening," Leilua said.
"It was devastating [enough] when we heard he'd be out for the whole year, but didn't know [until later] he couldn't walk.
"It was really sad, it hit us all hard and I don't think we really recovered as a team.
"It's a tragedy what happened, he's a good mate and such a great person, a lovely guy.
"He's showing the kind of man he is. He's still got a long way to go and he knows it too, but I know Alex and he'll keep trying until his body says no.
"I reckon he'll get there."
