Darren Smith (born 9 February 1965) 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played for the

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the ...

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) and

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 199 ...

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).

Port Adelaide (1984–1990)

Smith arrived in Adelaide from 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 ...

and after playing under-age football, he broke into the

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 ...

seniors in 1984. He topped Port's goal-kicking in 1986 and 1987, with 49 and 71 goals respectively, ending the sequence of nine leading goal-kicker awards from Tim Evans. Essendon acquired the centre half forward's services when they picked him up with pick 11 in the 1989 VFL Draft but the move didn't work out and he resumed at Port Adelaide.

Adelaide Crows (1991–1992)

When

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 ...

entered the AFL in 1991, Smith was one of their local recruits and he performed well in their inaugural with two goals and ten marks against Hawthorn. Two rounds later he played his best game for Adelaide when he had 24 disposals and kicked four goals and five behinds in a win over Sydney at the SCG, with his fellow Port Adelaide key forward Scott Hodges bagging six of his own. He soon lost his place in the team and spent most of the remainder of the season playing for Port Adelaide in the SANFL.

Port Adelaide (1993–1998)

After being delisted by the Adelaide Crows, Darren Smith resumed playing for Port Adelaide on a full-time basis. He retired in 1998. Smith had appeared in seven premiership teams with Port Adelaide, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995 and 1996. Smith is widely regarded as one of the best team men to play for the Port Adelaide Football Club.

Personal life

Smith's niece, Bella Smith, played junior football for

and has played professionally since 2021, when she was drafted by

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) club Collingwood.

Honours

Darren Smith is only one of six players, the others being

Russell Ebert Russell Frank Ebert (22 June 1949 – 5 November 2021) was an Australian rules footballer and coach. He is considered one of the greatest players in the history of Australian rules football. Ebert is the only player to have won four Magarey M ...

Greg Phillips Greg Phillips (born 26 March 1959) is a former Australian rules football player who played for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football Le ...

, Tim Ginever,

Kane Cornes Kane Graham Cornes (born 5 January 1983) is a sports journalist, commentator and former Australian rules footballer who played for Port Adelaide in the Australian Football League (AFL). Known primarily as a tagger, Cornes is a four-time John C ...

and Travis Boak, to have played 300 games for the Port Adelaide Football Club.

References

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

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Darren 1965 births Living people Adelaide Football Club players Port Adelaide Football Club (SANFL) players Port Adelaide Football Club players (all competitions) South Australian State of Origin players Australian rules footballers from South Australia South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees