Bella R. Smith (born 20 September 2001) is a professional

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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who plays for

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football competition for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the l ...

(AFLW), having previously played for the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

and . She played for Norwood in the

SANFL Women's League SANFL Women's League (also known as the SANFLW or the Hostplus SANFL Women's League) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in South Australia. History The league was launched in February 2017, initially comprising f ...

(SANFLW) before she was signed to an AFLW contract by Collingwood as an undrafted free agent.

Early life and state football

Smith was born in the town

Port Lincoln Port Lincoln is a city on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of South Australia. Known as Galinyala by the traditional owners, the Barngarla people, it is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, ...

in the

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Earlier called Eyre's Peninsula, it was named after e ...

. She played junior football for Ports Netball Football Club. In 2016, she represented South Australia at the Australian Football Under 15 Championship in

Maroochydore Maroochydore ( ) is a coastal town in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the urban area of Maroochydore had a population of 63,673 people. The city was subdivided from the Cotton Tree reserve by Surveyor Thomas O'Conno ...

, wearing the number 20 guernsey, like her father. After this she started playing for Norwood's under-16 side. All together Smith played three seasons for Norwood in the

(SANFLW). After playing 10 matches in 2019, she decided to focus on playing football. During her time playing state football, she also represented South Australia, playing for the Central Allies at the

2018 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships The 2018 NAB AFL Women's Under-18 Championships was played between May and July 2018, with six teams competing in the main 'Series 2' round robin tournament and with a further four playing in a two-match on-on-one exhibition as the competition's ...

, though she was injured in the last match against Vic Metro. The following year, she once again played for the Central Allies at the 2019 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships. She scored a goal in their victory over the Eastern Allies and was one of the best players in their loss to Western Australia. In September 2020, Smith played for Team Marinoff in the SANFLW All-Stars match, putting in a strong showing in defence, denying certain goals and marking strongly. As well as football, Smith has played

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

. She played at Port Neill Cricket Club and Kensington Cricket Club. From 2017, she also represented South Australia in their under-18 cricket side. She played junior cricket for three years at national level.

AFLW career

Smith joined Collingwood as an undrafted free agent, following the

2020 AFL Women's draft The 2020 AFL Women's draft consists of the various periods when the 14 clubs in the AFL Women's competition can recruit players prior to the competition's 2021 season. Signing and trading period A significantly delayed trade period was annou ...

, re-joining coach Stephen Symonds who had coached her at Norwood. Smith played in her first official hit-out in the first practice match of the season, playing against

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

Ikon Park Princes Park (also known as Ikon Park under naming rights) is an Australian rules football ground located inside the Princes Park precinct in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton North. Officially the Carlton Recreation Ground, it is a hi ...

. Less than two weeks later, she made her debut in the first match of the

2021 AFL Women's season The 2021 AFL Women's season was the fifth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 14 clubs and ran from 28 January to 17 April, compr ...

against Carlton at Ikon Park, playing as a forward after playing the pre-season practice match in the ruck and the forward line. In May 2022, Smith left Collingwood to join

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, one of the expansion clubs of the

2023 AFL Women's season The 2023 AFL Women's season was the eighth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 18 clubs and ran from 1 September to 3 December, ...

. Smith was traded to in December of 2024.

Style of play

Smith is originally a rebounding defender, but also has the ability to play up forward as Collingwood used her in the beginning of the

. She has strong hands and a penetrating left foot.

Personal life

Smith's uncle, Darren Smith, played 302 games for

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL), winning seven premierships with them and also played two seasons in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL) with

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

in their first two years in the competition. She previously lived in Melbourne with her former teammate Ebony O'Dea. She has also worked as a

teacher's aide A teaching assistant (TA) or education assistant (EA) is an individual who assists a professor or teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include ''graduate teaching assistants'' (GTAs), who are graduate students; ''undergraduate teach ...

at SEDA College.

Statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2022 (S6) season.'' , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 6 , , 0 , , 0 , , 12 , , 16 , , 28 , , 6 , , 9 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 2.7 , , 4.7 , , 1.0 , , 1.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2022 (S6) , style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 4 , , 0 , , 0 , , 9 , , 7 , , 16 , , 4 , , 7 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.3 , , 1.8 , , 4.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.8 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 10 ! 0 ! 0 ! 21 ! 23 ! 44 ! 10 ! 16 ! 0.0 ! 0.0 ! 2.1 ! 2.3 ! 4.4 ! 1.0 ! 1.6

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Bella 2001 births Living people Collingwood Football Club (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from South Australia Sportswomen from South Australia Sydney Swans (AFLW) players Kensington cricketers