Craig Smith (rugby league born 1971)

Craig Smith

Personal information
Born	(1971-10-31) 31 October 1971 (age 45) Kaitaia, New Zealand
Playing information
Height	187 cm (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)
Weight	109 kg (17 st 2 lb; 240 lb)
Position	Prop
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1995 South Sydney 7 1 0 0 4 1996–98 Illawarra Steelers 49 1 0 0 4 1999–01 St George Illawarra 52 1 0 0 4 2002–04 Wigan Warriors 94 11 0 0 44 2005–06 Newcastle Knights 45 2 0 0 8 Total 247 16 0 0 64 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1997 Queensland 3 0 0 0 0 1997 Rest of the World 1 0 0 0 0 1998–01 New Zealand 12 1 0 0 4 2008 New Zealand Māori 1 0 0 0 0
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Craig Smith (born 31 October 1971) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, and 2000s. He formerly played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Illawarra Steelers, St. George Illawarra Dragons and the Newcastle Knights as well as representing New Zealand, New Zealand Māori and Queensland. Smith primarily played at prop.

Smith was born in Kaitaia, New Zealand and originally was a rugby union player in Northland. Smith moved to Queensland for college and took up rugby league.

Smith commenced his top level career with the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the 1995 ARL season.

He then moved to the Illawarra Steelers.

Smith played at prop forward for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in their 1999 NRL Grand Final loss to the Melbourne Storm.

Following a series of suspensions in 2001 for contrary conduct and striking, Smith left the NRL and Australia in 2002 to play for European Super League club, the Wigan Warriors. With Wigan, he won the 2002 Challenge Cup Final. In 2003 he was named at prop forward in the season's Super League Dream Team. Smith played for the Wigan Warriors at prop forward in the 2003 Super League Grand Final, which was lost to the Bradford Bulls.