Will Smith (rugby league)

Will Smith
Personal information
Full name William Smith[1]
Born (1992-07-03) 3 July 1992
Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Height 178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 84 kg (13 st 3 lb)
Playing information
Position Fullback, Hooker, Five-eighth, Halfback

Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014–16 Penrith Panthers 21 2 4 0 16
2017– Parramatta Eels 27 7 0 0 28
Total 48 9 4 0 44
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016 Indigenous All Stars 1 0 0 0 0
As of 11 February 2018
Source: [2]

Will Smith (born 3 July 1992) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League. He primarily plays at five-eighth, but can also fill in at fullback and hooker. He previously played for the Penrith Panthers.

Background

Born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Smith is an Indigenous Australian and played his junior football for the Western Suburbs Rosellas in the Newcastle Rugby League. He was then signed by the Newcastle Knights.

Playing career

Early career

From 2010 to 2012, Smith played for the Newcastle Knights' NYC team.[3][4] On 28 May 2012, he re-signed with the Knights on a 1-year contract.[5][6]

Smith playing for the Knights in 2013

In 2013, he moved on to the Knights' New South Wales Cup team.[7] On 25 June 2013, he signed a 2-year contract with the Penrith Panthers starting in 2014.[8][9]

2014

In Round 21 of the 2014 NRL season, Smith made his NRL debut for the Panthers against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs replacing the injured Peter Wallace.[10][11] He would go on to play 8 games for the Panthers at five-eighth that year, including 2 games in the finals.[12] On 21 September, he was named at five-eighth in the 2014 New South Wales Cup Team of the Year.[13]

2015

On 31 January and 1 February 2015, Smith played for the Panthers in the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines.[14] He finished off the season playing 9 games for the Panthers scoring 2 tries and kicking 4 goals.

2016

On 13 February, Smith played for the Indigenous All Stars against the World All Stars.[15] He was named in the Penrith 2016 NRL Auckland Nines squad.[16] In November, it was announced that he would be joining the Parramatta Eels in 2017.[17]

2017

Smith made his club debut for the Eels in round 9 of the 2017 season, playing at five-eighth against the North Queensland Cowboys and scoring a try. On the 5th of July 2017, Smith resigned with the club on a one-year extension due to good form.[18] With Clint Gutherson and Bevan French injured, Smith moved to fullback and the end of the season, and finished the year of strongly playing 15 games (including 2 finals) and scoring 6 tries. In the elimination final match against The North Queensland Cowboys, Smith went from hero to villain in the space of 80 minutes. In the first half, Smith scored a length of the field try to make the score 10-6 at half time to Parramatta. In the second half, North Queensland playmaker Michael Morgan put up a routine bomb, in the resulting play Smith allowed the ball to bounce and did not attempt to catch it. Smith grabbed the ball on the second bounce but North Queensland player John Asiata raced up behind and stole the ball off Smith to score. This changed the momentum of the match and North Queensland went on to win 24-16.[19][20][21][22]

2018

Smith made his first start for Parramatta in round 2 of the 2018 season where they were beaten 54-0 by Manly. On 28 June, Parramatta who were in last place almost managed to pull off one of the upsets of the season when they were leading 18-8 with 7 minutes left to play. In the resulting minutes, Smith threw a forward pass and then in another play attempted a 40/20 kick which failed to go 20 metres thus giving the ball back to St George and in the next Saints attacking spell they crossed for the match winning try to win 20-18. [23][24] After spending the next few weeks in reserve grade, Smith was recalled to the Parramatta side against St George in which Parramatta won the match 40-4 with Smith coming off the bench.[25]

References

  1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20130419221648/http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/playerprofiledisplay/Knights/William%20Smith/3107. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ "Will Smith - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
  3. ↑ "S". Nyc Database. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20100907201159/http://www.rleague.com/db/player/s/smith_will/index.php. Archived from the original on 7 September 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ↑ "Knights sign Gagai, re-sign Rochow and Smith". SportsAustralia.com. 2012-05-28. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120630213318/http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/news-display/Knights-sign-Gagai-resign-Rochow-and-Smith/56009. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ "Vb Nsw Cup Team Lists - Round Sixteen". NSWRL.com.au. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  8. ↑ "Will Smith to join Panthers for 2014 | NRL". Zero Tackle. 2013-06-25. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  9. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20130629224556/http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/news-display/Will-Smith-to-join-Panthers-for-2014/77901. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ↑ "NRL Team List - Round 21 - Panthers". Penrithpanthers.com.au. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  11. ↑ "NRL 2014 - Round 21". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  12. ↑ "Custom Match List". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 2016-05-25.
  13. ↑ "2014 VB NSW Cup Team of the Year". NSWRL.com.au. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  14. ↑ "2015 Auckland Nines squad lists". NRL. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  15. ↑ Chris Garry (13 February 2016). "World All Stars defeat Indigenous All Stars 12-8 at Suncorp Stadium". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  16. ↑ "2016 Downer NRL Auckland Nines Official Squads". NRL. 3 February 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  17. ↑ ParraEels.com.au. "Parramatta Eels announce signings for the 2017 squad". Zero Tackle. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  18. ↑ Proszenko, Adrian (2017-07-05). "Will Smith proves his worth with new Parramatta Eels contract". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
  19. ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-16/nrl-north-queensland-cowboys-beat-parramatta-eels/8940644
  20. ↑ http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/cowboys-shock-eels-2416-to-set-up-nrl-preliminary-final-clash-with-roosters/news-story/9e33c45580d9f1300cfff4123ea5f9d1
  21. ↑ https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/teams/eels/parramatta-eels-player-ratings-for-semifinal-v-north-queensland-cowboys/news-story/b5129035058124141dd60c73202ffff1
  22. ↑ http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/sport/cowboys-trounce-eels-to-continue-finals-fairytale/news-story/980f8bfd0cffd4f354a5d90b36a6b809
  23. ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-28/nrl-st-george-illawarra-edge-out-paramatta/9914596
  24. ↑ http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/Custom/Ny0xNzE3LTQtLS0tLS0yMDI0Mi0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0=
  25. ↑ https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/08/07/parramatta-eels-v-st-george-illawarra-dragons-preview/
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