Peter Victor Smith (born 22 September 1947 in

Brunswick, Victoria Brunswick is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Merri-bek Local government areas of Victoria, local go ...

) 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 with

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and Carlton in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). Smith was recruited from Melbourne Grammar and came to the Melbourne Football Club with the pressure of being the son of club great

Norm Smith Norman Walter Smith (21 November 1915 – 29 July 1973) was an Australian rules football player and coach in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After more than 200 games as a player with and , Smith began a twenty-year coaching career, in ...

. A forward, he played eight games in the

1966 VFL season The 1966 VFL season was the 70th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 23 April until 24 September, and comprised an ...

and 15 in 1967. He left the club after two seasons to join Carlton, coached by his friend

Ron Barassi Ronald Dale Barassi (27 February 1936 – 16 September 2023) was an Australian rules footballer, coach and media personality. Regarded as one of the greatest and most important figures in the history of the game, Barassi was the first player ...

. He spent most of his time at Carlton as captain of the reserves team and managed just 15 senior games before being granted a clearance to

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...

. After spending three years at Port Melbourne, during which time his father died, Smith crossed to

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

in a straight swap for Mick Erwin. He topped the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

Division Two goal-kicking in 1974 with 121 goals and his bag of 13 goals against

Mordialloc Mordialloc ( ) is a beachside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Mordialloc recorded a population of 8,886 at the ...

late in the year saw him join

Bob Pratt Harold Robert "Bob" Pratt (31 August 1912 – 6 January 2001) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans, South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (1897–1989), Victorian Football League (VFL) and ...

Lance Collins Lance Kitchener Collins (19 June 1916 – 3 January 1988) was a leading Australian rules footballer of the 1940s, playing for Carlton Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Born in Beulah, Victoria, Collins joined Victoria ...

and

Jack Titus Jack "Skinny" Titus (9 March 1908 – 19 April 1978) was an Australian rules football player who played in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1926 and 1943 for the Richmond Football Club. In the 1930s, Titus was one of the great forwa ...

as the only Coburg players to boot a century in a season. Smith was also the full-forward in the 1974 Coburg premiership side and topped the club's goal-kicking once more in 1975.''The Age'', "Peter Smith drops off Coburg merry-go round", 16 July 1976, p. 18

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Peter V. 1947 births Melbourne Football Club players Carlton Football Club players Port Melbourne Football Club players Coburg Football Club players Living people People educated at Melbourne Grammar School Australian rules footballers from Melbourne People from Brunswick, Victoria 20th-century Australian sportsmen