Billy Smith (born 7 November 1999) is an Australian 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 plays as a for the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

in the

National Rugby League 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 ...

(NRL).

Background

Smith was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, New South Wales, Australia.

Playing career

Prior to his league career, Smith attended high school at

The Scots College , motto_translation = O that we may be worthy of our forefathers , location = Bellevue Hill, Eastern Suburbs, Sydney , country = Australia , type = Independent single-sex primary a ...

where he played for the school's 1st XV in rugby union.

2018

Smith played for the

Wyong Roos The Wyong Rugby League Football Club are an Australian rugby league club based on the Central Coast of New South Wales. The club competed in the New South Wales Cup from 2013 to 2018 and still competes in the Central Coast Division Rugby League ...

during the 2018 Intrust Super Premiership NSW season. After Wyong exited the competition, Smith played for North Sydney in the first half of the

2019 Canterbury Cup NSW The 2019 Canterbury Cup NSW season was the eleventh season of the New South Wales Cup, the top rugby league competition administered by the New South Wales Rugby League. The competition acts as a second-tier league to the ten New South Wales-based ...

season scoring nine tries in six games before receiving a call up to the

first grade side.

2019

In round 23 of the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

, Smith made his

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 ...

debut for the

Roosters The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

against the

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

scoring a try in a 34-12 victory at

Kogarah Oval Jubilee Stadium, also known as Kogarah Oval or by its sponsored name Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, is a multipurpose stadium in Carlton, New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. The stadium is mainly used for rugby league and the A-League, and is one ...

2020

During pre-season training for the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-season ...

, Smith suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

(ACL) knee injury during a contact session.

head coach

Trent Robinson Trent Robinson (born 15 March 1977) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Sydney Roosters in the NRL and a former professional rugby league footballer. He has previously held coaching positions at Toul ...

confirmed the injury saying “It’s Billy’s other knee and it’s an ACL, One of the doctors was telling me a stat where once you suffer one ACL injury you’re then a 25 per cent chance of doing the other knee inside two years if you’re under 21. We’re all feeling for Billy, there was a big opportunity there for him but the type of person he is he’ll fight back from this". Smith was widely tipped to start the year at left centre after the departure of

Latrell Mitchell Latrell Mitchell (''né'' Goolagong; born 16 June 1997) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL, and has represented both New South Wales in the State of Origin series and ...

. Smith reported to the NRL integrity unit regarding knowledge about the infamous Sam Burgess sexting scandal.

2021

On 17 February 2021, Smith was ruled out for four months with a shoulder injury which he suffered at training. In round 17 of the

2021 NRL season The 2021 NRL season was the 114th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 15th consecutive year. Regular season Ladd ...

, Smith made his long awaited return and scored a try during the

22-16 victory over

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in the south-western suburbs. The area is located around the Bankstown railway line, to the west of the St George region and to the south of the Inner West region. The suburbs o ...

. On 27 July, it was revealed that Smith would be ruled out for the rest of the

after suffering a lisfranc foot injury.

2022

In round 18 of the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season is the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest s ...

, Smith was taken from the field during the Sydney Roosters 54-26 victory over

St. George Illawarra The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

with a knee injury. Smith was later ruled out for the rest of the

with an ACL injury.

2023

In round 10 of the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season is the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams For the 2023 season, the number of teams in the NRL has increased from sixteen to seventeen with the ...

, Smith played his first NRL game in almost one year for the Sydney Roosters in their shock loss to

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

. In the 2023 elimination final against

Cronulla Cronulla is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Boasting numerous surf beaches and swimming spots, the suburb attracts both tourists and Greater Sydney residents. Cronulla is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney ...

, Smith fractured his jaw during the match and was later ruled out for an indefinite period. The Sydney Roosters would go on to record a 13-12 upset victory.

References

External links

Sydney Roosters profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Billy 1999 births Living people Australian rugby league players Sydney Roosters players Rugby league centres North Sydney Bears NSW Cup players Rugby league players from Sydney