Rohan Smith

Rohan Smith
Smith before a game against Collingwood in April 2004
Personal information
Date of birth	(1973-05-31) 31 May 1973 (age 43)
Place of birth	Yarraville, Victoria
Original team(s)	Kingsville
Debut	Round 1, 1992, Footscray vs. Adelaide, at Football Park
Height	184 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	80 kg (176 lb)
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1992–2006	Western Bulldogs	300 (254)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2006.
Career highlights
All-Australian 1997, 2003 International rules series 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003 E. J. Whitten Medal 1998
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Rohan H. Smith (born 31 May 1973 in Yarraville, Victoria) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.

Debuting in 1992 after being recruited around 1990, Smith has long been one of the Bulldogs' favourite sons, with his reputation rising during the mid-1990s when he became one of the best half-backs in the league. In 1997 he cemented this reputation by earning All-Australian selection.

Smith is currently serving as the backline coach of the Western Bulldogs.

Smith attended St. Paul's College in Altona North, Victoria.

The 1997 season was the most eventful for Smith and his team, which made a preliminary final. Despite a four-point lead in the last quarter, the Bulldogs had victory stolen from them by Adelaide. The battling club, which was the subject of the Year of the Dogs documentary in 1996, drastically improved in 1997 with the club being renamed from Footscray to the Western Bulldogs and seemingly a new dawn arising with a Grand Final berth likely. He also had a little girl named Keely Shea Smith and in 1999 had a son named Jacob Harrington Smith.

With the Bulldog's surrender of a big lead, Smith is best remembered for encapsulating the feelings of the team after the loss, on his knees in the middle of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, punching the turf.

Smith again won All-Australian selection in 2003 and in recent seasons had been noted for his longevity in the game, at 33 years of age still being a valuable member of a young Bulldogs side. However, he had noticeably lost some of his pace during the 2006 season, and announced his retirement before the start of the finals series in 2006. [1] There was talk of him continuing a further year if he was stuck on 299 games, but he insisted that he would retire at the end of the season, regardless of his games tally. The Bulldogs won their first final, against Collingwood, to set up a 300th game for Smith which he would share with Scott West, another long serving veteran and one of Smith's best friends at the club. Smith and West were the only team mates in AFL history to share their 300th game in the same match.