Nicholas Smith (born 12 June 1988) is a former
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
er, who played for the
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...
in the
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...
(AFL).
Smith was educated at
Scotch College, Melbourne
(For God, for Country, and for Learning)
, established =
, type = Independent, day and boarding
, gender = Boys
, denomination = Presbyterian
, slogan =
, ...
(where he captained
Cyril Rioli
Cyril Rioli (born 14 July 1989) is a former Australian rules football player who played with the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League. Rioli was a member of four premiership teams and the Norm Smith Medallist from the 2015 ...
), and then played with the
Oakleigh Chargers
The Oakleigh Chargers is an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based at Warrawee Park in Oakleigh, Victoria, representing the southeastern suburban ar ...
. He represented Vic Metro in the under-18 national championships before being picked as a rookie in the
2007 Rookie Draft at number 15.
He made his AFL senior debut in round 5, 2008 against
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
after being promoted off the Rookie List earlier in the season. Playing a further senior game against
Hawthorn
Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to:
Plants
* '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae
* ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...
kicking his first senior AFL goal during the match. He was elevated to the
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...
senior list full-time at the end of the 2008. In 2009, he continued to add to his game tally by playing the last 11 matches of the season and was re-signed for a further two years.
In 2010, Smith returned to the senior side playing in the
back pocket
In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team is assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the gro ...
and as a midfield tagger. He played on some of the best players in the competition and often managed to severely limit their influence. Those players included Luke Hodge, Dan Giansiracusa, Mark Le Cras, Steve Johnson, Stephen Hill, Eddie Betts and Luke Power.
Smith's 2011 season was another consistent showing. He played mostly as a small defender and continued to play on the most dangerous players in the league. His year was rewarded with 6th place in the 2011 Bob Skilton Medal.
Smith was rewarded for his hard work with a spot in the 2014 All Australian team.
His father
Mal played one game for
St Kilda in 1982.
As of the end of the
2018 AFL season
The 2018 AFL season was the 122nd season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season feature ...
, Smith has played the most AFL games of any player without polling a single
Brownlow Medal
The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...
vote.
Smith's 2019 season was beset by injury. Fears that he might not play again were realised when on 14 August 2019, Smith announced his retirement from AFL football.
Statistics
:
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 40 , , 2 , , 1 , , 0 , , 11 , , 7 , , 18 , , 4 , , 4 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 5.5 , , 3.5 , , 9.0 , , 2.0 , , 2.0 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 40 , , 11 , , 1 , , 1 , , 71 , , 77 , , 148 , , 31 , , 31 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 6.5 , , 7.0 , , 13.5 , , 2.8 , , 2.8 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 40 , , 16 , , 4 , , 0 , , 90 , , 102 , , 192 , , 42 , , 38 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 5.6 , , 6.4 , , 12.0 , , 2.6 , , 2.4 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 40 , , 23 , , 2 , , 1 , , 189 , , 132 , , 321 , , 76 , , 82 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 8.2 , , 5.7 , , 14.0 , , 3.3 , , 3.6 , , 0
, -
, scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
#
, style="text-align:center;",
, 40 , , 22 , , 0 , , 3 , , 162 , , 164 , , 326 , , 67 , , 87 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 7.4 , , 7.5 , , 14.8 , , 3.0 , , 4.0 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 40 , , 24 , , 1 , , 1 , , 167 , , 167 , , 334 , , 72 , , 75 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 7.0 , , 7.0 , , 13.9 , , 3.0 , , 3.1 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 40 , , 23 , , 0 , , 1 , , 188 , , 169 , , 357 , , 83 , , 59 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 8.2 , , 7.3 , , 15.5 , , 3.6 , , 2.6 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 40 , , 21 , , 0 , , 2 , , 202 , , 150 , , 352 , , 110 , , 64 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 9.6 , , 7.1 , , 16.8 , , 5.2 , , 3.0 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 40 , , 25 , , 1 , , 1 , , 218 , , 129 , , 347 , , 93 , , 79 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 8.7 , , 5.2 , , 13.9 , , 3.7 , , 3.2 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 40 , , 24 , , 0 , , 1 , , 164 , , 138 , , 302 , , 111 , , 44 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.8 , , 5.8 , , 12.6 , , 4.6 , , 1.8 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 40 , , 20 , , 0 , , 1 , , 135 , , 153 , , 288 , , 90 , , 52 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 6.8 , , 7.7 , , 14.4 , , 4.5 , , 2.6 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 40 , , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , —
, - class="sortbottom"
! colspan=3, Career
! 211
! 10
! 12
! 1597
! 1388
! 2985
! 779
! 615
! 0.0
! 0.1
! 7.6
! 6.6
! 14.1
! 3.7
! 2.9
! 0
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Nick
Sydney Swans players
Sydney Swans Premiership players
1988 births
Living people
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)
All-Australians (AFL)
People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne
Australia international rules football team players
One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players