Will Smith (rugby league)

Will Smith (born 3 July 1992) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a five-eighth, fullback and hooker for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL.

Will Smith
Personal information
Full nameWilliam Smith[1]
Born (1992-07-03) 3 July 1992
Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Height178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight88 kg (13 st 12 lb)
Playing information
PositionFullback, Five-eighth, Hooker
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014–16 Penrith Panthers 21 2 4 0 16
2017– Parramatta Eels 37 8 0 0 32
Total 58 10 4 0 48
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016 Indigenous All Stars 1 0 0 0 0
As of 11 August 2019
Source: [2]

He previously played for the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League and the Indigenous All Stars.

Background

Smith was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and is an Indigenous Australian.

He played his junior football for the Western Suburbs Rosellas in the Newcastle Rugby League. He was then signed by the Newcastle Knights.

Playing career

Early career

From 2010 to 2012, Smith played for the Newcastle Knights' NYC team.[3][4] On 28 May 2012, he re-signed with the Knights on a 1-year contract.[5][6]

Smith playing for the Knights in 2013

In 2013, he moved on to the Knights' New South Wales Cup team.[7] On 25 June 2013, he signed a 2-year contract with the Penrith Panthers starting in 2014.[8][9]

2014

In Round 21 of the 2014 NRL season, Smith made his NRL debut for the Panthers against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs replacing the injured Peter Wallace.[10][11] He would go on to play 8 games for the Panthers at five-eighth that year, including 2 games in the finals.[12] On 21 September, he was named at five-eighth in the 2014 New South Wales Cup Team of the Year.[13]

2015

On 31 January and 1 February 2015, Smith played for the Panthers in the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines.[14] He finished off the season playing 9 games for the Panthers scoring 2 tries and kicking 4 goals.

2016

On 13 February, Smith played for the Indigenous All Stars against the World All Stars.[15] He was named in the Penrith 2016 NRL Auckland Nines squad.[16]

Smith playing for the Panthers in 2016

In November, it was announced that he would be joining the Parramatta Eels in 2017.[17]

2017

Smith made his club debut for the Eels in round 9 of the 2017 season, playing at five-eighth against the North Queensland Cowboys and scoring a try. On 5 July 2017, Smith resigned with the club on a one-year extension due to good form.[18] With Clint Gutherson and Bevan French injured, Smith moved to fullback and the end of the season, and finished the year of strongly playing 15 games (including 2 finals) and scoring 6 tries. In the elimination final match against The North Queensland Cowboys, Smith went from hero to villain in the space of 80 minutes. In the first half, Smith scored a length of the field try to make the score 10-6 at half time to Parramatta. In the second half, North Queensland playmaker Michael Morgan put up a routine bomb, in the resulting play Smith allowed the ball to bounce and did not attempt to catch it. Smith grabbed the ball on the second bounce but North Queensland player John Asiata raced up behind and stole the ball off Smith to score. This changed the momentum of the match and North Queensland went on to win 24-16.[19][20][21][22]

2018

Smith made his first start for Parramatta in round 2 of the 2018 season where they were beaten 54-0 by Manly. On 28 June, Parramatta who were in last place almost managed to pull off one of the upsets of the season when they were leading 18-8 with 7 minutes left to play. In the resulting minutes, Smith threw a forward pass and then in another play attempted a 40/20 kick which went out on the full, thus, giving the ball back to St George and in the next Saints attacking spell they crossed for the match winning try to win 20-18.[23][24] After spending the next few weeks in reserve grade, Smith was recalled to the Parramatta side against St George in which Parramatta won the match 40-4 with Smith coming off the bench.[25]

2019

Smith played in Parramatta's 20-12 opening round victory over Penrith. Smith was subsequently demoted to reserve grade where he spent the next 2 months. On 14 May, Smith was recalled to the Parramatta side at the expense of Jaeman Salmon who was demoted by coach Brad Arthur after the club were defeated by Melbourne 64-10 at Suncorp Stadium.[26][27]

Smith made his return to the Parramatta side in Round 10 against North Queensland which ended in a 17-10 loss. Following the club's 42-22 loss against Cronulla in Round 13, Smith was demoted to reserve grade by Brad Arthur and replaced with Jaeman Salmon.[28][29]

2020

In round 18 of the 2020 NRL season, Smith played his first game for Parramatta in nearly 15 months against Penrith which they lost 20-2 at Penrith Park.[30]

In round 20 against the Wests Tigers, Parramatta won the match 28-24, Smith scored the winning try for Parramatta which ensured they would finish third on the table and finish inside the top four granting the club two chances in the finals series.[31]

In November, he signed a one-year contract extension to remain at Parramatta for the 2021 season.[32]

References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20130419221648/http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/playerprofiledisplay/Knights/William%20Smith/3107. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. "Will Smith - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  3. "S". Nyc Database. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  4. https://web.archive.org/web/20100907201159/http://www.rleague.com/db/player/s/smith_will/index.php. Archived from the original on 7 September 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. "Knights sign Gagai, re-sign Rochow and Smith". SportsAustralia.com. 28 May 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  6. https://web.archive.org/web/20120630213318/http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/news-display/Knights-sign-Gagai-resign-Rochow-and-Smith/56009. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. "Vb Nsw Cup Team Lists - Round Sixteen". NSWRL.com.au. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  8. "Will Smith to join Panthers for 2014 | NRL". Zero Tackle. 25 June 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20130629224556/http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/news-display/Will-Smith-to-join-Panthers-for-2014/77901. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. "NRL Team List - Round 21 - Panthers". Penrithpanthers.com.au. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  11. "NRL 2014 - Round 21". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  12. "Custom Match List". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  13. "2014 VB NSW Cup Team of the Year". NSWRL.com.au. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  14. "2015 Auckland Nines squad lists". NRL. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  15. Chris Garry (13 February 2016). "World All Stars defeat Indigenous All Stars 12-8 at Suncorp Stadium". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  16. "2016 Downer NRL Auckland Nines Official Squads". NRL. 3 February 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  17. ParraEels.com.au. "Parramatta Eels announce signings for the 2017 squad". Zero Tackle. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  18. Proszenko, Adrian (5 July 2017). "Will Smith proves his worth with new Parramatta Eels contract". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  19. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-16/nrl-north-queensland-cowboys-beat-parramatta-eels/8940644
  20. http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/cowboys-shock-eels-2416-to-set-up-nrl-preliminary-final-clash-with-roosters/news-story/9e33c45580d9f1300cfff4123ea5f9d1
  21. https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/teams/eels/parramatta-eels-player-ratings-for-semifinal-v-north-queensland-cowboys/news-story/b5129035058124141dd60c73202ffff1
  22. http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/sport/cowboys-trounce-eels-to-continue-finals-fairytale/news-story/980f8bfd0cffd4f354a5d90b36a6b809
  23. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-28/nrl-st-george-illawarra-edge-out-paramatta/9914596
  24. http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/Custom/Ny0xNzE3LTQtLS0tLS0yMDI0Mi0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0=
  25. https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/08/07/parramatta-eels-v-st-george-illawarra-dragons-preview/
  26. "NRL teams Round 10: Every club's 21-man squad named". www.foxsports.com.au.
  27. "Josh Reynolds backs Nathan Cleary and James Maloney for NSW Origin". www.news.com.au.
  28. "Canterbury Cup NSW Team Lists". NSWRL.
  29. "Team news, injury updates and suspensions ahead of Round 14". Fox Sports.
  30. "Parramatta Eels 'in deep trouble' after nightmare loss in western Sydney derby". www.news.com.au.
  31. "Arthur convinced Eels are ready for Storm rematch". www.nrl.com.
  32. "Eels announce trio of signings". www.foxsports.com.au.
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