Darren Smith (born 8 December 1968) is an Australian former

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 in the 1990s and 2000s. He played for the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

national side and also

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

in the

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

. His club football career was spent with the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

http://www.stats.rleague.com/rl/scorers/players/Darren_Smith.html and St. Helens. He is the brother of fellow Maroon and international, Jason Smith.

Background

Born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

on 8 December 1968, Darren Smith went on to play in the

Brisbane Rugby League premiership The Brisbane Rugby League is a rugby league football competition in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in 2001, known as the FOGS premiership under the Quee ...

. During the

1988 Great Britain Lions tour The 1988 Great Britain Lions tour was the Great Britain national rugby league team's 18th tour of Australasia and took place from May to July 1988. It started with a Test match against Papua New Guinea before the best-of-three series against Austr ...

of Australia, Smith was selected at 20 years of age to play for the

Brisbane rugby league team The Brisbane Rugby League team, also called Brisbane Firsts or Combined Brisbane or Brisbane Capitals, was an Australian representative rugby league football side made up of players from the Brisbane Rugby League's first-grade premiership club ...

against the visiting British.

Playing career

1990s

In 1990 he moved from Brisbane's

Easts Tigers The Brisbane Tigers are a rugby league club based at Langlands Park, in the suburb of Coorparoo in Brisbane, Australia. Since 1996, they have competed in the Queensland Cup, having competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1934 to 1997, where ...

to Sydney's

. Conspicuous in headgear after suffering a severe concussion in 1991, Smith made his

début as a reserve for

in the 1992 series. During the 1993 State of Origin series Smith played from the interchange bench n Games 2 and 3, both losses. Smith was selected to play on the interchange bench in all three games of the 1994 State of Origin series which was eventually lost by Queensland. He looked certain to press for Australian selection until off-field politics took its toll in the

1994 NSWRL season The 1994 NSWRL season (known as the 1994 Winfield Cup Premiership due to sponsorship from Winfield) was the eighty-seventh season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs, including 14 from within the borders of New South ...

. Smith's refusal to renew his contract with Canterbury, negotiating with two Brisbane clubs instead, saw him used in the limited role of interchange player. Smith's place in Canterbury's

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

side was taken by youngster

Steven Hughes Steven Jay Hughes (February 12, 1954 – February 18, 2000) was an American artist for the Chaos! Comics company. Hughes provided the art for many of the company's comics, including ''Lady Death'', ''Evil Ernie'', and the short-lived superhero s ...

who made little impact when brought on to the field as a replacement. Smith revealed that he had signed with the

South Queensland Crushers The South Queensland Crushers were an Australian rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. In 1992 it was decided that the team would be admitted into the New South Wales Rugby League competition, along with three other teams, a ...

but he then did an about-face and successfully sought a release to play with the Brisbane Broncos in 1995. It was unfortunate that Smith hit possibly his best form at a time when the code was in turmoil, and he did not represent again until 1997's Super League season. He proved his durability at the highest level, making his Test début against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and playing at lock forward in the 1997 Anzac Test, the first Anzac Test, as well as all five Tests against the

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

as well as making three appearances in Queensland's

Tri-Series The Rugby League Tri-Nations (known as the Gillette Tri-Nations for sponsorship reasons) was a rugby league tournament involving the top three teams in the sport: Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand and is the predecessor of today's Rugby ...

side. When the game reunified for the

1998 NRL season 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, Smith returned to the Queensland State of Origin team and was 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 ...

's top try-scorer for the season, crossing for the final try in Brisbane's 38–12 thrashing of his former club Canterbury in the 1998 NRL grand final. In an ironic twist to his career, Smith announced that he was returning to the Bulldogs in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

. Smith was selected for the Australian team to play in the 1999 ANZAC Test, and to compete in the end of season 1999 Tri Nations tournament. In the final against

he played at centre in the Kangaroos' 22–20 victory.

2000s

In 2000 he was awarded the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league. Smith left the Bulldogs at the end of

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

(denied the opportunity to finally win a premiership with the club when it was stripped of its competition points) to play with English club St. Helens. Having won Super League VI, St Helens contested the

2003 World Club Challenge The 2003 World Club Challenge match was contested on Sunday, 16 February by National Rugby League season 2002 premiers, the Sydney Roosters and Super League VII premiers, St. Helens. 19,807 spectators turned out at Bolton's Reebok Stadium for th ...

against 2002 NRL Premiers, 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 ...

. Smith played at second-row forward in Saints' 38–0 loss. At the end of his first English season Smith was unexpectedly called into the Third Test of the

Ashes series The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...

(despite being 35 years old and outside the NRL) by his former Bulldogs coach, national coach

Chris Anderson Chris Anderson may refer to: Sports * Chris Anderson (baseball) (born 1992), American baseball player * Chris Anderson (cheese roller), 22-time winner of annual cheese rolling * Chris Anderson (footballer, born 1925) (1925–1986), Scottish footb ...

, who felt the available 2003 Kangaroo s were not experienced enough.

Retirement

Smith returned to Australia in 2004 and made cameo appearances with the Broncos in two matches while playing for his former club,

Eastern Suburbs Tigers The Brisbane Tigers are a rugby league club based at Langlands Park, in the suburb of Coorparoo in Brisbane, Australia. Since 1996, they have competed in the Queensland Cup, having competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1934 to 1997, where ...

. At age 36 years and 284 days, he was the NRL's oldest player in 2005. Smith finally retired as a player after Easts was beaten in the grand final. At the time of his retirement Smith held the record for most tries in a season for the Broncos (together with

Steve Renouf Steven "Pearl" Renouf (born 8 June 1970) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He was known as one of the sport's greatest s. Renouf set numerous records for the Brisbane Broncos ...

) at 23.

References

External links

Darren Smith at stateoforigin.com.auDarren Smith at bulldogs.com.auSaints Heritage Society profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Darren 1968 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Brisbane Broncos players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Eastern Suburbs Tigers players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Rugby league players from Brisbane Rugby league utility players St Helens R.F.C. players