Bernie Smith

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Bernie Smith
Personal Info
Birth December 19, 1927,
Recruited from West Adelaide, (SANFL)
Height/Weight 175cm / 77kg
Playing Career¹
Debut Round 1, 1948, Geelong vs. Fitzroy, at Brunswick St Oval
Team(s) West Adelaide (1945-1947)
  • 55 games

Geelong (1948-1958)

  • 183 career games; 3 goals
¹ Statistics to end of 2005 season
Career Highlights

  • West Adelaide Best & Fairest 1947
  • Premiership player West Adelaide 1947 (BOG)
  • Premiership player Geelong - 1951, 1952
  • Geelong Captain 1950, 1954
  • Geelong Best & Fairest 1951, 1956
  • Brownlow Medal 1951
  • South Australian rep 1 game
  • Victorian rep 4 games
  • All Australian 1953
  • Named in both Geelong's and the AFL's official 'Team of the Century'
  • Inducted AFL Hall of Fame 1996

Bernie Smith is a former Australian rules footballer in the SANFL and VFL, who is perhaps best remembered as one of the greatest back pockets in the history of the game.

Contents

[edit] SANFL career

Smith commenced his carreer with West Adelaide in the South Australian Football League as a 16 year old in 1945. Playing primarily as a centre, Smith was an outstanding player.

He won the Best and Fairest award for West Adelaide in 1947, the same year that he played in their Grand Final triumph over Norwood, in which he was widely acknowledged as the best player afield[1].

Also in 1947 Smith represented South Australia at the interstate carnival, attracting the attention of the Victorian club, Geelong.

[edit] VFL career

Smith was recruited to Geelong for the 1948 season and played centreman during his first few years in the (then) Victorian Football League.

Moved to the back pocket by coach Reg Hickey in 1951 he won both the club best and fairest award and the Brownlow Medal that same season, while for good measure he was among the Cats' best in their grand final defeat of Essendon.

In combination with the dashing Fullback Bruce Morrison he created a sturdy defensive wall, and started the forward moves going again with his precision kicking. Under their leadership the Geelong defence was so strong that rival coaches had to turn their minds to finding ways through to goal.

"Bernie Smith had a big smile, fair curly hair and looked like a country boy playing a country game of football. It seemed, however, that everywhere that Bernie went the ball was sure to go.

"He was immensely popular around the club and his adopted city of Geelong."[1]

[edit] External Links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ross, John (1999). The Australian Football Hall of Fame. Australia: HarperCollinsPublishers, p. 121. ISBN 0 7322 6426 X.
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