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Rohan Smith

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Rohan Smith
Rohan Smith WBvCOL 2004
Personal information
Full name Rohan Smith
Date of birth (1973-05-31) 31 May 1973 (age 51)
Place of birth Yarraville, Victoria
Original team(s) Kingsville
Debut Round 1, 1992, Footscray vs. Adelaide, at Football Park
Height 184 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 80 kg (176 lb)
Position(s) Utility
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1992–2006 Western Bulldogs 300 (254)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2006.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Rohan H. Smith (born 31 May 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.

Debuting in 1992 after being recruited around 1990, Smith has long been one of the Bulldogs' favourite sons, with his reputation rising during the mid-1990s when he became one of the best half-backs in the league. In 1997 he cemented this reputation by earning an All-Australian selection.

Smith is currently serving as the backline coach of the Western Bulldogs and enjoys his time with his family.[1]

Early life

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Smith attended St. Paul's College in Altona North, Victoria.

1997

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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 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 berth likely. He also had a little girl named Keely Shea Smith and in 1999 had a son named Jacob Harrington Smith.

With the Bulldogs' 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, punching the turf.

Later career

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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. He announced his retirement before the start of the finals series in 2006. [1] 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, to set up a 300th game for Smith which he would share with Scott West, another long serving veteran and one of Smith's best friends at the club. Smith and West are, to date, the only team mates in AFL history to share their 300th game in the same match.

That game would be his last, with the Bulldogs going down to eventual premiers West Coast by 74 points. An emotional Smith was chaired off 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

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[2]
Legend
  G  
Goals
  K  
Kicks
  D  
Disposals 
  T  
Tackles
  B  
Behinds 
  H  
Handballs 
  M  
Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
1992 Footscray 31 14 10 9 95 46 141 24 19 0.7 0.6 6.8 3.3 10.1 1.7 1.4 0
1993 Footscray 5 6 7 6 54 18 72 23 5 1.2 1.0 9.0 3.0 12.0 3.8 0.8 0
1994 Footscray 5 11 2 1 63 43 106 22 16 0.2 0.1 5.7 3.9 9.6 2.0 1.5 0
1995 Footscray 5 22 6 9 277 135 412 86 28 0.3 0.4 12.6 6.1 18.7 3.9 1.3 12
1996 Footscray 5 22 15 9 280 105 385 89 29 0.7 0.4 12.7 4.8 17.5 4.0 1.3 4
1997 Western Bulldogs 5 24 26 13 318 145 463 95 32 1.1 0.5 13.3 6.0 19.3 4.0 1.3 3
1998 Western Bulldogs 5 24 29 26 245 121 366 101 23 1.2 1.1 10.2 5.0 15.3 4.2 1.0 6
1999 Western Bulldogs 5 24 31 22 284 114 398 122 17 1.3 0.9 11.8 4.8 16.6 5.1 0.7 6
2000 Western Bulldogs 5 23 42 20 271 108 379 125 15 1.8 0.9 11.8 4.7 16.5 5.4 0.6 0
2001 Western Bulldogs 5 21 18 21 258 102 360 96 17 0.9 1.0 12.3 4.9 17.1 4.6 0.8 3
2002 Western Bulldogs 5 22 18 11 293 130 423 111 31 0.8 0.5 13.3 5.9 19.2 5.0 1.4 3
2003 Western Bulldogs 5 22 6 7 353 144 497 95 30 0.3 0.3 16.0 6.5 22.6 4.3 1.4 4
2004 Western Bulldogs 5 21 7 13 304 88 392 97 29 0.3 0.6 14.5 4.2 18.7 4.6 1.4 4
2005 Western Bulldogs 5 20 16 17 243 135 378 121 26 0.8 0.9 12.2 6.8 18.9 6.1 1.3 0
2006 Western Bulldogs 5 24 21 10 241 132 373 137 45 0.9 0.4 10.0 5.5 15.5 5.7 1.9 0
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

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  1. ^ "Assistant Coaches". westernbulldogs.com.au. Western Bulldogs. Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  2. ^ "Rohan Smith stats". AFL Tables. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
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