Rod Lester-Smith (born 18 July 1959) is a former Australian Rules Footballer who played with

East Fremantle East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September ...

, as well as

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 ...

and the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/ ...

in the

VFL/AFL The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). I ...

. He was also a member of the 1985

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led b ...

. Tall, pacy and strong overhead, Lester-Smith endured more than his fair share of injury woes during six seasons at East Fremantle. He managed 89 games in his first stint with the Sharks, played mostly on the wing. He was also a member of the famous 1979 WAFL premiership team. Drafted to Hawthorn in 1982, Lester-Smith spent most of his time at half back and was unlucky not to play in a winning grand final team during Hawthorn's dominance in the 1980s. Lester-Smith played in grand final losses in 1984 and 1985; when Hawthorn won the flag in 1986, he was a last minute omission from the grand final team. A

Western Australian Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

and

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 , establishe ...

interstate representative, Lester-Smith was selected as an All-Australian representative in 1985 under coach Kevin Sheedy. In the same year, he was Hawthorn's top vote getter at the

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 t ...

count. In 1988, Lester-Smith crossed to the Brisbane Bears where he celebrated his 100th VFL/AFL game with a 66 point win over Geelong at

Carrara Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence. Its mot ...

. Having missed out on finals for the league in 1991 and in his final game for the club, Lester-Smith answered an SOS from former Hawthorn teammate, then reserves coach

Rodney Eade Rodney Eade (born 4 April 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach in the Australian Football League. He is a former coach of the Sydney Swans, the Western Bulldogs and the Gold Coast Football Club. He has, to date, coached 37 ...

. He captained the Bears to a historic reserves premiership claiming the first AFL premiership flag to travel outside of Victoria. Upon returning home, Lester-Smith finished his playing career with one season back at East Fremantle. He then made the quick transition to football manager where he had immediate success with the Sharks winning premierships in 1992 and 1994 under close friend and former teammate Ken Judge. Lester-Smith was later recruited as a development coach, assistant coach and football manager at the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football L ...

from 1995 to 2001 under

Mick Malthouse Michael Raymond Malthouse (born 17 August 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer, who played for the St Kilda Football Club and Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After finishing his playing career, Malthou ...

, followed by Ken Judge. After several years out of the game, he returned to East Fremantle where he coached the club for part of the 2003 and 2004 season.

References

*Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lester-Smith, Rod 1959 births Living people Hawthorn Football Club players Brisbane Bears players East Fremantle Football Club players East Fremantle Football Club coaches All-Australians (1953–1988) Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Western Australian State of Origin players