Ken Smale
Collingwood
AFL career
60 games98 goals
- Debut
- R1 1955 v FSC16 Apr 1955
- Most recent
- GF 1958 v MEL20 Sept 1958
Stats
Bio
Recruited from Warracknabeal in the Wimmera, Ken Smale was a productive country forward who initiated his own VFL career by writing to Collingwood for a trial. Despite standing just 185cm, he played as a key position target who relied on strong hands, an impressive leap, and the ability to lead into space rather than brute size. He made an immediate impact, topping the Magpies' goalkicking in his debut 1955 season, but his most famous individual performance came in the 1956 Preliminary Final; after being dropped for the semi-final, he was recalled to boot a career-high eight goals against Footscray. Smale played in the losing Grand Finals of 1955 and 1956, but finally tasted premiership success in his last VFL game, sitting on the bench as a reserve during the club's famous 1958 Grand Final upset over Melbourne before returning home to country football.
Profile
- Born
- 05 Nov 1933 (age 92y 338d)
- Height
- 185 cm
- Weight
- 85 kg
Teams
Bio
1 revisionRecruited from Warracknabeal in the Wimmera, Ken Smale was a productive country forward who initiated his own VFL career by writing to Collingwood for a trial. Despite standing just 185cm, he played as a key position target who relied on strong hands, an impressive leap, and the ability to lead into space rather than brute size. He made an immediate impact, topping the Magpies' goalkicking in his debut 1955 season, but his most famous individual performance came in the 1956 Preliminary Final; after being dropped for the semi-final, he was recalled to boot a career-high eight goals against Footscray. Smale played in the losing Grand Finals of 1955 and 1956, but finally tasted premiership success in his last VFL game, sitting on the bench as a reserve during the club's famous 1958 Grand Final upset over Melbourne before returning home to country football.