Retired Archie Smith (2013-2021)

[Dylan12]

Lions face ruck dilemma after injury to Trent West

STEFAN Martin is the early frontrunner to replace injured ruckman Trent West, but Brisbane Lions coach Justin Leppitsch has left the door open for a surprise elevation. However, the Lions coach did not rule out the option of elevating basketball convert Archie Smith from the rookie list to make his debut against the Western Bulldogs next weekend. Smith has been a revelation since taking up the game a little over 12 months ago, and clearly has Leppitsch excited. "I love the way Archie plays," he said.

"He's a basketball convert and they're real exciting to watch and I think his work around the ruck would be terrific, but it's just if the kid's ready. I don't want to throw him in if he needs time. "Stef's the mature head, has come back from injury and played a couple of games. "At this point in time, unless things change, he's the logical choice, but in my heart, I would like to see another one (debutant) go around." Smith, 18, turned his back on basketball offers from up to eight Division One colleges in the United States and decided to give AFL a go.

 

[Dylan12]

Pearce Hanley

Hanley has taken special interest in Archie Smith, the son of former Brisbane Bullets star Andre Moore, who was headed to a US college on a basketball scholarship a year ago before catching the eye of Lions talent scouts. With ruckmen Trent West and Matthew Leuenberger both injured, Smith is set to get his first chance at senior level in the coming weeks. “When I first saw Archie he was very raw, very similar to what I was like and I can appreciate what he is going through,'’’ Hanley said. “His improvement has been colossal. I talk to him a lot about his football and wherever I can help, I will.’’ Hanley said it seems like yesterday when he was the green kid learning the ropes. Now, after signing a five-year deal last year, he has emerged as an elite AFL player.

 

[Dylan12]

Upgrade? Retain? Delist? AFL.com.au's rookie watch

Archie Smith: Surprised many with his rapid progress as a ruckman after taking up the sport a little more than 12 months ago. Coach Justin Leppitsch is a big fan of the basketball convert and it wouldn't surprise to see him elevated to the senior list as cover for the injured Trent West.

Summary: While Matthew Leuenberger is due to return in the next six or seven weeks, Smith is still the most likely to be elevated. The Lions have just one fit ruckman – Stefan Martin – and giving Smith a taste of the big time with two or three games late in the season is very much on the cards.

 

[ashley76]

So what is the go

 

[Full Wingspan]

Amazing to think it was a genuine toss up between himself and Stef once West went down.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Reserves Wrap - Gold Coast Suns - 04/04/2015 (Shane Woewodin's comments)

Archie’s first game back for a couple of weeks – he fatigued as the game wore on. He found the ball a fair few times and his ruck work was OK. We still want him to work harder around the ground and impact more contests.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Reserves Wrap - Southport Sharks - 11/04/2015 (Shane Woewodin’s comments)

Archie took another step on the weekend – with his ability to find the ball around the ground. He dominated hit-outs for us. Probably didn’t get full advantage out of his ruck work but it was good to see him take a couple of catches around the ground. He’ll be sorely missed now for 4-6 weeks with a knee injury which is really unfortunate for Archie this time of year.

 

[Tairy Greene]

JFC are we going to be able to keep anyone over 180cms on the field this year???

 

[ZoBlitz]

Reserves Wrap - GWS - 17/05/2015 (Shane Woewodin's comments)

Back from a knee injury after a five week lay off. I thought he didn’t look out of place, he played some really good footy for us. Didn’t look like his knee affected him, provided a contest and kicked one, could have kicked two goals. Good to see him push forward onto his opponent. Still working on his contested marking around the ground, but something to build on.

 

[Elixuh]

Reserves Wrap - Hornets - 23/05/2015 (Shane Woewodin's comments)

Probably dominated in the air in terms of ruck contests, wasn’t up against a lot in terms of ruck. His opponent got a bit of the ball particularly around the ground. Archie’s still got to work on his contested marking, he’s getting into good positions now. He’s just got to now complete the play by taking those grabs.

 

[Elixuh]

Reserves Wrap - Sydney - 30/05/2015 (Shane Woewodin's comments)

Battled manfully against two, possibly, three experienced ruckmen. Named him Captain for the day, which was a great experience for him to lead the group out. Offensively he improved, Archie, in terms of his ability to find the ball around the ground – had 15 possessions, which is near on a best for Arch. He’s still got to work hard on his contest stuff and his ability to work hard in defence and his positioning around the ground. It’s good experience for him at the moment.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Reserves Wrap - Gold Coast Suns - 27/06/2015 (Shane Woewodin’s comments)

An improved performance from the previous week, still some work to do in his defensive actions and his ability to swivel his head and take out his opponents and win the ball. We’ve got to continue to get him to jump more at the centre square bounce but he did lay five tackles and his follow up work as a ruckman was much better.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Reserves Wrap - NT Thunder - 04/07/2015 (Shane Woewodin’s comments)

Was OK in the ruck, his first half was good. He’ll look to work hard inside 50 as a ruckman and put some pressure on his opposition, but also get on the last line of defence. Certainly taking his game to another level in areas in the last couple of weeks – listening and adhering to instruction pretty well. Probably as the game wears on, he starts to fatigue and drifts out of the game and loses concentration but still seeing some improvement in Archie as the game goes on

.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Reserves Wrap - Sydney Swans - 12/07/2015 (Shane Woewodin’s comments)

Probably beaten on the day with Toby Nankervis. There were a couple of efforts around the ground which were alright, particularly his follow up work. But still needing to work on his craft as a ruckman at centre square bounce and around the ground at stoppages and then what he does in defence around the ground is a critical part for Archie moving forward.

 

[Ruse]

Maybe time to give him a go as a kpd and see how he develops there.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Reserves Wrap - Sydney Uni - 19/07/2015 (Shane Woewodin’s comments)

Better on the weekend from Arch. Better in the ruck, still a few technical things he needs to work on with the ruck but in terms of his offence around the ground, he contributed a lot more. When he gets his hands on it, he’s still working to mark more ball around the ground particularly in contested situations. I thought he had more impact on the game.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Reserves Wrap - GWS - 25/07/2015 (Shane Woewodin’s comments)

He probably got better as the game wore on. I thought his contest work particularly in the second half was so much more aggressive than the first. I think he found 15 possessions for the day, which he’s starting to improve on finding more ball, he still needs to mark the ball around the ground more so. He just needs to bring that intensity from the get go rather than wait until after half time to be really aggressive in the air. Defensively in transition he needs to do some work on his opponents. He gets caught ball watching a lot and his opponents get off him so Archie still needs to improve in this.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Reserves Wrap - Sydney - 01/08/2015 (Shane Woewodin’s comments)

Continues to grow and evolve as a ruckman. He picked up another 16 possessions this week which was a great result for Arch. He had a lot more impact around the ground. He needs to improve his contest stuff in the air and his stoppage work and his centre square bounce work and set the tone for our mids with his aggressiveness in there. All in all an improvement in the back half of the year.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Reserves Wrap - Gold Coast - 08/08/2015 (Shane Woewodin’s comments)

Probably an even contribution from Arch this week. Again compared to last time against Zac Smith where Archie had his pants pulled down. Archie was really good, his follow up work was fantastic, he was more aggressive at centre square bounce. Contributed more around the ground. There are still areas of his game to improve but still a much improved performance on the previous week and against a quality opponent in Zac Smith, he may have taken the points against him.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Reserves Wrap - NT Thunder - 15/08/2015 (Shane Woewodin’s comments)

Had his colours lowered on the day, allowed his ruckman to kick three and probably get under his skin a little bit. Probably wasn’t as damaging around the ground than what he has been in previous weeks. His ruck work was OK in and around the ground. His follow up work was pretty good. He probably just got caught in transition a fair bit where he wasn’t able to impact any contests in that area of the ground. We’ll be looking for Archie to bounce back in a fortnight’s time against Redlands.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Reserves Wrap - Redland - 29/08/2015 (Shane Woewodin’s comments)

Outstanding Archie was on the day. Won his position really well, impacted really well all over the ground we thought. Particularly early getting back into the defensive 50 and getting in the way. He marked the footy really well, which is the biggest part of Archie’s game. He only took a couple but his ability to mark a high ball and be in contests was good. He was more aggressive at centre square bounce for us, he was able to win clearances for us as well. The only thing Archie didn’t do was lay a tackle, generally he’s laid a couple this year but wasn’t able to hit the scoreboard with the tackles.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Player Reviews: Part Nine

Rookie Archie Smith spent his second season at the Club playing in the Reserves. Smith’s effort was particularly strong in the second half of the season, where he used his big bodied frame in the defensive 50 to make an impact on marking contests. Like the other rookies, Smith will be keen to join the seniors in 2016.

 

[Matchu]

Cool story. Good chance for Archie to debut in 2016 now that Leuenberger is no longer a Lion? His ruck work is reminiscent of Tom Nicholls' at the Suns.

 

[xplo]

Cool story. Good chance for Archie to debut in 2016 now that Leuenberger is no longer a Lion? His ruck work is reminiscent of Tom Nicholls' at the Suns.

He'd want to grab his chances this year and I'm certain he knows that. Will be interesting to see if Brisbane get a chance to rookie Maboir Chol. Would be another message to Archie that the clock is ticking.

 

[lionshine]

http://www.lions.com.au/news/2016-02-04/no-regrets