Jeremy Smith (born 14 April 1980) is a New Zealand 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 in the 2000s and 2010s. A

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 ...

international representative, he played as a and . He played for the

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. ...

, 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 ...

, with whom he won the 2010 NRL Grand Final with, the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

and the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

, who he co-captained, 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 ...

Background

Of Samoan heritage, Smith was born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand. He is a cousin of Kalifa Faifai Loa. Smith was educated at

Coombabah State High School {{Unreferenced, date=October 2008 Coombabah State High School is a public secondary school located in the northern suburb of Coombabah on the Gold Coast, Queensland, in Australia. Backing onto the Coombabah Lakelands Conversation Area, The campus ...

. Smith played his junior football for the Altona Roosters in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung–Taungurung language, Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the St ...

before moving to

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_ ...

to play for Runaway Bay Seagulls RLFC. In 2001, Smith was signed by the

Northern Eagles The Northern Eagles were a rugby league team, that competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) between 2000 and 2002. The club was formed during the rationalisation process of the NRL by the merger of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the Nort ...

, but was sacked by coach

Peter Sharp Peter Sharp (born 16 July 1954) is an Australian professional rugby league coach. He was most recently the interim coach of the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the National Rugby League. Coaching career Sharp has been the head coach of the Nort ...

. He returned to

, eventually finding his way to play for

feeder club,

Norths Devils The Northern Suburbs Devils, or North Brisbane Devils, or often simply referred to as Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They pl ...

in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by four ...

. In 2004, Smith was named Devils Player of the Year.

Professional playing career

Melbourne Storm

In round 23 of the 2004 NRL season Smith made his

debut for the

against the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

. He scored a try on debut. Smith didn't play first-grade in 2005 but became a regular first-grader in 2006. The Storm reached the 2006 NRL Grand Final and Smith was selected to play from the interchange bench in the loss to the

Broncos A bucking horse is any breed or either gender of horse with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock. The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for rod ...

. He played in the 2007 NRL Grand Final win over the Sea Eagles, again selected off the interchange. In 2010, the premiership that Smith won with Melbourne was stripped by the

due to the club's major and deliberate breaches of the salary cap. After winning the 2007 NRL Grand Final with the

, Smith was selected for the 2007 All Golds tour. Not to be confused with compatriot and namesake Jeremy James Smith, both Jeremy Smiths were named in the

Centenary clash of 14 October 2007, Jeremy James Smith in the number 7 jersey and Jeremy Jon Oscar Smith in the number 13 jersey. Jeremy Smith

In August 2008, Smith was named in the New Zealand training squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

. Later in the season Smith played in the 2008 NRL Grand Final defeat by Manly, starting in the . Smith signed a 3-year contract with the

starting in 2009 to be a part of the new Wayne Bennett era at the Dragons. In October 2008, he was named in the final 24-man

New Zealand Kiwis The New Zealand national rugby league team (Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of ...

squad. Smith was a member of the World Cup-winning New Zealand team beating

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the 2008 World Cup final at

Suncorp Stadium Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...

Brisbane, Queensland 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 ...

. In 2010, the premiership that Smith won with Melbourne in 2007 was stripped by the NRL for major and deliberate breaches of the salary cap.

St. George Illawarra Dragons

In January 2009, Smith was named the 2008

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood ''T ...

Player of the Year. In his first year at the Dragons, the team won the 2009 Minor Premiership after finishing first in the regular season and again won the Minor Premiership in 2010. In August 2010, Smith signed a 3-year contract with the

starting in 2011. Smith played at in the Dragons' team that won the 2010 NRL Grand Final, defeating 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 ...

. This was Smith's second premiership after the Storm's 2007 title. After that win, he had played in more grand finals than any other New Zealander. After winning the 2010 NRL Grand Final with the

, Smith was a part of New Zealand's successful

2010 Four Nations The 2010 Rugby League Four Nations tournament was played in Australia and New Zealand in October and November 2010. The tournament was the second time the Four Nations had been held, following on from the 2009 edition held in England and France. ...

campaign.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

Despite having a disappointing year with the

in 2011, Smith was again chosen to represent New Zealand in the

2011 ANZAC Test The 2011 ANZAC Test was a rugby league test match played between Australia and New Zealand on 6 May 2011 at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast. Australia won their tenth straight Anzac test with a score of 20–10. Pre-game The game was origina ...

and 2011 Four Nations. After a successful start to year with the Sharks, Smith was selected in the 2012 ANZAC Test. On 26 September 2012, Smith signed a three-year contract with the

starting in 2013 to rejoin his former Dragons coach, Wayne Bennett. He was released from the final year of his Sharks contract due to personal reasons. He was named the

's 2012 Player of the Year.

Newcastle Knights

Smith commenced playing with the

in the 2013 NRL season. On 22 August 2014, Smith became one of the current NRL players and former Sharks players to accept reduced bans from the

Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) was a government statutory authority tasked to protect Australia's sporting integrity through the elimination of doping. The authority was part of the Department of Health's portfolio and was ...

for his role in the club's 2011 supplements program. On 13 February 2015, Smith played for the NRL All Stars against the Indigenous All Stars in the annual All Stars match. On 6 June 2015, he re-signed with the Knights on a 1-year contract. On 26 February 2016, Smith was announced as one of three co-captains for the Knights alongside

Trent Hodkinson Trent Hodkinson (born 31 August 1988) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the NRL. He played for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in two separate spells, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Newcastle ...

and

Tariq Sims Tariq ( ar, طارق) is an Arabic word and given name. Etymology The word is derived from the Arabic verb , ('), meaning "to strike", and into the agentive conjugated doer form , ('), meaning "striker". It became popular as a name after Tariq ...

. On 13 May 2016, he announced his retirement from rugby league at the end of the 2016 season.

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Jeremy 1980 births Living people Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Doping cases in rugby league Melbourne Storm players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand rugby league players Newcastle Knights captains Newcastle Knights players NRL All Stars players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Christchurch Rugby league second-rows St. George Illawarra Dragons players