Bernie Smith

Bernie Smith
Personal information
Full name	Bernard Keith Smith
Date of birth	(1927-12-19)19 December 1927
Date of death	21 April 1985(1985-04-21) (aged 57)
Original team(s)	West Adelaide (SANFL)
Height	175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Position(s)	back pocket
Playing career¹
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1945–1947	West Adelaide (SANFL)	55 (12)
1948–1958	Geelong (VFL)	183 (3)
Total		238 (15)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
	Victoria	4
	South Australia	3
¹ Playing statistics correct to the end of 1958.
Career highlights
West Adelaide premiership player 1947 Geelong premiership player 1951, 1952 Brownlow Medal 1951 Trabilsie Medal 1947 Carji Greeves Medal 1951, 1956 All-Australian team 1953 Geelong captain 1954 Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee 1996 AFL Team of the Century (back pocket) Geelong Team of the Century (back pocket) South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee 2002
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Bernard Keith Smith (19 December 1927 – 21 April 1985) was an Australian rules footballer who represented West Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and Geelong in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1940s and 1950s.

Smith made his name as an outstanding back pocket player in a successful period for Geelong. He was a brilliant reader of the play and cool in a crisis.

Smith commenced his career with West Adelaide in the SANFL as a 16-year-old on 28 April 1945. Playing primarily as a centre, Smith was an outstanding player.

He won the Trabilsie Medal, West Adelaide's best and fairest award, in 1947, the same year that he played in their Grand Final triumph over Norwood, in which he was widely acknowledged as the best player afield.

Also in 1947 Smith represented South Australia at the interstate carnival, attracting the attention of the Victorian club, Geelong.

Smith was recruited to Geelong for the 1948 season and played centreman during his first few years in the (then) Victorian Football League. In 1950, coach Reg Hickey trialled Smith in the back pocket, and he adjusted quickly to the new position.1951 was a year to remember for Smith; he won the Brownlow Medal and club best and fairest, and was among the best on ground in Geelong's 1951 premiership victory.

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