Shaun Smith (born 22 June 1969) 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 oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er in the VFL/AFL. Originally from the Ainslie Football Club in the Australian Capital Territory, but recruited from Werribee and debuting in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

in 1987, Smith is best known for his incredible leap and ability to take spectacular marks or speckies. His high leaping play enabled him to hold down a key position whilst being only 184 cm and is sometimes compared to Russell Robertson. Smith debuted with the

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Kangaroos also ...

in 1987 and was delisted due to a string of injuries at the end of 1992 after 47 games and 38 goals. He played for Werribee in 1994, and had a dominant season there. He was one of the Association's leading goalkickers for the season, finished third in the

J. J. Liston Trophy The J. J. Liston Trophy is awarded annually to the best and fairest senior player in the Victorian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football Association). It is named after J.J. Liston, a businessman, civic leader and sports administrato ...

count, and continued his reputation for taking high marks. He was consequently recruited back to the AFL by for the 1995 season. By far Smith's most successful and consistent season was at the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

(Demons) in 1995. His 1995 Mark of the Year, a chest mark over teammate Garry Lyon in the goalsquare against the Brisbane Bears at the

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, was named the ''Mark of the Century'', superseding Gary Ablett Sr's famous, though controversial mark a year earlier. In the same year, he managed an AFL career best 51 goals.

Injury An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, o ...

plagued the rest of his career at the Demons until he was finally delisted in 1998, finishing his career at the Werribee Football Club in 2004. Shaun's son Joel was signed by the Demons for the 2016 season as a Category B rookie, and his daughter Amy is currently listed with North Melbourne in the AFLW, recruited in 2020 as the club's first father-daughter pick.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Shaun 1969 births Living people Melbourne Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club players Werribee Football Club players Ainslie Football Club players Australian rules footballers from the Australian Capital Territory