Reimis Smith (born 13 May 1997) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a and er for the Melbourne Storm 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 ...

. He previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League and has played for New Zealand 9s at international level.

Background

Smith was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and is of Māori and Indigenous Australian descent. Smith is the son of former New Zealand international

Tyran Smith Tyran Carl Smith (born 15 March 1974) is a New Zealand former rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He along with Darrien Doherty and Blake Green are the only three players in the game's history to date to have the distin ...

, and the nephew of boxer and former professional rugby league footballer Anthony Mundine. Smith played his junior rugby league for the

Mascot Jets The Mascot Juniors was founded in 1910 Mascot JRLFC are an Australian semi-professional rugby league football team based in Mascot, New South Wales, a suburb of south-eastern Sydney. They are widely acknowledged as the oldest Junior League Club ...

and for the South Sydney Harold Matthews team. He was educated at

Matraville Sports High School Matraville Sports High School (abbreviated as MSHS) is a government co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary school, with speciality in sports, located on Anzac Parade, Chifley, an eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Aust ...

and then being signed by the Parramatta Eels in 2013.

Playing career

Early career

In 2015, Smith played for the Parramatta Eels' NYC team, before joining the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs mid-season.

2016 - 2020: Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs

On 7 May, Smith played for the Junior Kiwis against the Junior Kangaroos. In Round 12 of the

2016 NRL season The 2016 NRL season was the 109th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 19th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, w ...

, he made his

debut for Canterbury against

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, scoring two tries. He had played for the clubs Intrust Super Premiership NSW side the day before, but due to regular Canterbury centre Josh Morris being called up to the New South Wales State of Origin side on the day of the NRL game, Smith was called up and had to drive from Sydney to

to make the game. Smith spent 2017 playing for Canterbury's NSW Cup team, making no appearances for the first-grade team. On 6 May, Smith again played at centre for the Junior Kiwis against Junior Kangaroos in the 46-22 loss at Canberra Stadium. in 2018, following the mid-season departure of

Moses Mbye Moses Mbye (born 13 August 1993) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays for the St George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL. Over the course of his career he has played as a and . He previously played for the Canterbury- ...

to the Wests Tigers, Smith earned a recall back into Canterbury's first-grade team on the wing as

Will Hopoate William Hopoate (born 9 May 1992), also known as Viliami in Tongan, also known by the nickname of "Hoppa", is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as a and on the for the St Helens in the Super League. He played for th ...

shifted from centre to fullback to fill in the void. He made his first appearance of the season in Round 15 against the Gold Coast Titans, playing on the wing. In Round 24 against the St George Illawarra Dragons, Smith scored a hat-trick of tries in Canterbury's shock upset 38-0 win at Jubilee Oval. He finished the season with 11 matches and 7 tries. On 3 September, he was selected in the New Zealand Kiwis training squad but didn’t make the final 24-man squad. On 3 October, Smith extended his contract with Canterbury to the end of 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 ...

. In Round 8 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 ...

against Manly-Warringah, Smith scored two tries in a 18-10 defeat at Brookvale Oval. In Round 19, Smith scored two tries in a 20-12 loss against the Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium. In Round 23 against arch rivals Parramatta, Smith was placed on report and then sent to the sin bin in the second half of the match after headbutting Parramatta player

Maika Sivo Maika Sivo (born 3 October 1993) is a Fijian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a er for the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League (NRL) and Fiji at international level. Background Sivo grew up in Nadi, Fiji. Sivo pla ...

during Canterbury's upset 12-6 victory at the Western Sydney Stadium. On 11 November, Smith signed a contract extension to stay at Canterbury until the end of the 2021 season. Smith played 14 games for Canterbury in the

scoring four tries. The club finished in 15th place on the table, only avoiding the Wooden Spoon by for and against over bottom side Brisbane. On 13 November, Smith was granted a release by Canterbury to join reigning premiers, Melbourne.

2021 - Present: Melbourne Storm

Smith played a total of 25 games for Melbourne in 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 ...

as the club won 19 matches in a row and claimed the Minor Premiership. Smith played in two finals matches including the preliminary final where Melbourne suffered a shock 10-6 loss against eventual premiers Penrith. In round 9 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 Melbourne's 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 ...

. It was later announced Smith would miss 10–12 weeks with a torn pectoral injury.

References

External links

Canterbury Bulldogs profile
(Archived on 26 October 2020) {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Reimis 1997 births Living people Australian people of Māori descent Australian rugby league players Bundjalung people Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Indigenous Australian rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league players Melbourne Storm players Junior Kiwis players Rugby league wingers Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Sydney Wiradjuri people