Rohan H. Smith (born 31 May 1973) 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 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 ...

. Debuting in 1992 after being recruited around 1990, Smith has long been one of the

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, 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-perf ...

selection. Smith is currently serving as the backline coach of the Western Bulldogs and enjoys his time with his family.

Early life

Smith attended St. Paul's College in

Altona North Altona North is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Altona North recorded a population of 12,962 at the . Bordering subu ...

, Victoria.

1997

The 1997 season was the most eventful for Smith and his team, which made a preliminary final. Despite a four-point lead in the last quarter, the Bulldogs had victory stolen from them by Adelaide. The battling club, which was the subject of the

Year of the Dogs ''Year of the Dogs'' is a 1997 documentary film detailing the 1996 season of the Footscray Football Club (now Western Bulldogs). Directed by Michael Cordell and Stewart Young, it stars Alan Joyce, Tony Liberatore, Stephen Wallis, Terry Wallace, ...

documentary in 1996, drastically improved in 1997 with the club being renamed from Footscray to the Western Bulldogs and seemingly a new dawn arising with a

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 ...

berth likely. He also had a little girl named Keely Shea Smith and in 1999 had a son named Jacob Harrington Smith. With the Bulldog's surrender of a big lead, Smith is best remembered for encapsulating the feelings of the team after the loss, on his knees in the middle of the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

, punching the turf.

Later career

Smith again won All-Australian selection in 2003 and in recent seasons had been noted for his longevity in the game, at 33 years of age still being a valuable member of a young Bulldogs side. However, he had noticeably lost some of his pace during the 2006 season, and announced his retirement before the start of the finals series in 2006

There was talk of him continuing a further year if he was stuck on 299 games, but he insisted that he would retire at the end of the season, regardless of his games tally. The Bulldogs won their first final, against Collingwood Football Club, Collingwood, to set up a 300th game for Smith which he would share with

Scott West Scott West (born 14 November 1974) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented the in the Australian Football League (AFL). Having won a club-record seven Charlie Sutton Medals, West is recognised as one of the Bulldogs' greatest- ...

, another long serving veteran and one of Smith's best friends at the club. Smith and West were the only team mates in AFL history to share their 300th game in the same match. Unfortunately that game would be his last, with the Bulldogs going down by 74 points, away to

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

. An emotional Smith was chaired off the Subiaco Oval where he received a standing ovation, a testament to his illustrious career. Smith now resides in Williamstown with his wife Alison and his two children. Following his retirement, Smith became a commentator for Fox Sports, since 2012 Smith has been an assistant coach at his former club in the Western Bulldogs.

Statistics

: , - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 14 , , 10 , , 9 , , 95 , , 46 , , 141 , , 24 , , 19 , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 6.8 , , 3.3 , , 10.1 , , 1.7 , , 1.4 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 6 , , 7 , , 6 , , 54 , , 18 , , 72 , , 23 , , 5 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , 9.0 , , 3.0 , , 12.0 , , 3.8 , , 0.8 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 11 , , 2 , , 1 , , 63 , , 43 , , 106 , , 22 , , 16 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 5.7 , , 3.9 , , 9.6 , , 2.0 , , 1.5 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 22 , , 6 , , 9 , , 277 , , 135 , , 412 , , 86 , , 28 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 12.6 , , 6.1 , , 18.7 , , 3.9 , , 1.3 , , 12 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 22 , , 15 , , 9 , , 280 , , 105 , , 385 , , 89 , , 29 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 12.7 , , 4.8 , , 17.5 , , 4.0 , , 1.3 , , 4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 24 , , 26 , , 13 , , 318 , , 145 , , 463 , , 95 , , 32 , , 1.1 , , 0.5 , , 13.3 , , 6.0 , , 19.3 , , 4.0 , , 1.3 , , 3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 24 , , 29 , , 26 , , 245 , , 121 , , 366 , , 101 , , 23 , , 1.2 , , 1.1 , , 10.2 , , 5.0 , , 15.3 , , 4.2 , , 1.0 , , 6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 24 , , 31 , , 22 , , 284 , , 114 , , 398 , , 122 , , 17 , , 1.3 , , 0.9 , , 11.8 , , 4.8 , , 16.6 , , 5.1 , , 0.7 , , 6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 23 , , 42 , , 20 , , 271 , , 108 , , 379 , , 125 , , 15 , , 1.8 , , 0.9 , , 11.8 , , 4.7 , , 16.5 , , 5.4 , , 0.6 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 21 , , 18 , , 21 , , 258 , , 102 , , 360 , , 96 , , 17 , , 0.9 , , 1.0 , , 12.3 , , 4.9 , , 17.1 , , 4.6 , , 0.8 , , 3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 22 , , 18 , , 11 , , 293 , , 130 , , 423 , , 111 , , 31 , , 0.8 , , 0.5 , , 13.3 , , 5.9 , , 19.2 , , 5.0 , , 1.4 , , 3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 22 , , 6 , , 7 , , 353 , , 144 , , 497 , , 95 , , 30 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 16.0 , , 6.5 , , 22.6 , , 4.3 , , 1.4 , , 4 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 21 , , 7 , , 13 , , 304 , , 88 , , 392 , , 97 , , 29 , , 0.3 , , 0.6 , , 14.5 , , 4.2 , , 18.7 , , 4.6 , , 1.4 , , 4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 20 , , 16 , , 17 , , 243 , , 135 , , 378 , , 121 , , 26 , , 0.8 , , 0.9 , , 12.2 , , 6.8 , , 18.9 , , 6.1 , , 1.3 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 24 , , 21 , , 10 , , 241 , , 132 , , 373 , , 137 , , 45 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 10.0 , , 5.5 , , 15.5 , , 5.7 , , 1.9 , , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 300 ! 254 ! 194 ! 3579 ! 1566 ! 5145 ! 1344 ! 362 ! 0.8 ! 0.6 ! 11.9 ! 5.2 ! 17.2 ! 4.5 ! 1.2 ! 45

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Rohan 1973 births Living people Western Bulldogs players All-Australians (AFL) People from Williamstown, Victoria Victorian State of Origin players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne E. J. Whitten Medal winners Australia international rules football team players People from Yarraville, Victoria