Benjamin William Smith (born 16 October 1984) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played as a and for the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

Early life

Smith was born in

Quirindi Quirindi ( or ) is a small town on the North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, in Liverpool Plains Shire. At the , Quirindi had a population of 3,444. It is the nearest link to Gunnedah to the west and Tamworth to the north. ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, playing for his junior club, the Werris Creek Magpies.

Rugby league career

Smith made his first grade debut in round 20 of the

2004 NRL season The 2004 NRL season (also known as the 2004 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra) was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed dur ...

for Parramatta against

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

in a 22–16 loss at Olympic Park in Melbourne. He established himself in the NRL in 2005, when he had a boom rookie season alongside club namesake,

Tim Smith Tim, Timothy or Timmy Smith may refer to: Musicians *T. V. Smith (born 1956), British singer and songwriter *Tim Smith (Cardiacs) (1961–2020), English singer-songwriter and frontman of Cardiacs *Timmy Trumpet (born 1982), Australian DJ and produ ...

. The monster centre of 102 kg, easily big enough to play in the forwards, damaged opposition teams out wide with his size and strength, he played 18 games and scored 14 tries in an outstanding rookie year. Smith was a part of the 2005 Minor Premiership winning side which made it to the preliminary final before suffering a shock loss going down to North Queensland 29–0. The

2006 NRL season The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Te ...

loomed as a learning curve season for Smith as after initially showing all the promise he had from the previous season, he sustained a serious leg injury against the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

in round 4, and was sidelined for half the NRL season. He only managed 14 games for three tries, however, it provided the platform for him to return to his best in 2007. Plagued by injuries, Smith's young career has been shortened by extended periods when he was not fit to play. Throughout the 2007 and 2008 seasons, he was in and out of the Parramatta backline. In the

2009 NRL season The 2009 NRL season was the 102nd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the twelfth run by the National Rugby League. For the third consecutive year, sixteen teams competed for the 2009 Telstra Premiership ...

, Smith began playing in the forward pack. The decision by Eels coach Daniel Anderson was not surprising, given Smith's 16 stone physique. Smith played for Parramatta in the

2009 NRL Grand Final The 2009 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2009 Telstra Premiership season. Played on 4 October 2009 at Sydney's ANZ Stadium was contested between the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm, the latte ...

23–16 defeat against Melbourne. Melbourne were later stripped of the premiership for major and deliberate breaches of the salary cap. In the

2010 NRL season The 2010 NRL season was the 103rd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the thirteenth run by the National Rugby League. The season commenced on 12 March and ended with the Grand Final, played on 3 Octobe ...

, Smith played 19 games as Parramatta failed to build upon their grand final appearance in 2009, missing the finals series by finishing 12th. The following year in 2011, Smith played nearly every game for the club as they narrowly avoided the wooden spoon. Parramatta defeated the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

in the final game of the year to avoid finishing last. On 13 May 2012, Smith re-signed with the Eels until the end of the

2014 NRL season The 2014 NRL season was the 107th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 17th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand, for the Auckland Nines, replacing the Rugby Leagu ...

. Parramatta would finish last on the table in 2012 for the first time since 1972. In June 2013, Smith was one of 12 Parramatta players that were told that their futures at the club were uncertain by coach,

Ricky Stuart Ricky John Stuart (born 7 January 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Canberra Raiders in the NRL and a former rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He ...

. Parramatta would finish the

2013 NRL season The 2013 NRL season was the 106th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia. The National Rugby League's main competition, named the 2013 Telstra Premiership after major sponsors Telstra Corporation, was contested by sixte ...

with the

Wooden Spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) ** Australian rugby league wooden spooners ** County Championship Wooden Spoons ** List of Australian Football League wooden spoons ** MLS Wooden Spoon * Wooden Spoon Soci ...

for a second consecutive year. Smith retired at the end of the

, finishing his career a one club player with 152 games for the Parramatta Eels.

References

External links

Parramatta Eels biography page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ben 1984 births Australian rugby league players Parramatta Eels players Prime Minister's XIII players Wentworthville Magpies players Rugby league locks Rugby league second-rows Rugby league centres Living people Rugby league players from New South Wales