Noel Smith
Essendon
AFL career
38 games50 goals
- Debut
- R1 1938 v STK23 Apr 1938
- Most recent
- R10 1945 v SME23 June 1945
Stats
Bio
Recruited from West Moreland Amateurs, Noel Smith endured a slow start to his VFL career, struggling to cement a spot in the Essendon defence despite winning the Gardiner Medal as the Reserves Best and Fairest in 1939. Following a brief tenure with Brunswick in the VFA, he returned to the Bombers in 1943 and revitalised his career by shifting to the forward line and second ruck. This positional switch paid dividends in 1944 when he played all 20 games, booted 40 goals to finish as the club's runner-up goalkicker, and was named Essendon's Most Improved Player. He could not replicate that standout form in 1945 and subsequently returned to Brunswick before finishing his playing days in Queensland with Sandgate.
Profile
- Born
- 27 Nov 1918
- Died
- 04 Sept 2008 (aged 89y 282d)
- Height
- 183 cm
- Weight
- 78 kg
Teams
Bio
1 revisionRecruited from West Moreland Amateurs, Noel Smith endured a slow start to his VFL career, struggling to cement a spot in the Essendon defence despite winning the Gardiner Medal as the Reserves Best and Fairest in 1939. Following a brief tenure with Brunswick in the VFA, he returned to the Bombers in 1943 and revitalised his career by shifting to the forward line and second ruck. This positional switch paid dividends in 1944 when he played all 20 games, booted 40 goals to finish as the club's runner-up goalkicker, and was named Essendon's Most Improved Player. He could not replicate that standout form in 1945 and subsequently returned to Brunswick before finishing his playing days in Queensland with Sandgate.