Smith elevated

[PrideOf]

Originally posted by Kane McGoodwin
No doubt Smith has improved heaps this year (ie. no longer dud class), so make him do it for a 2nd season next year (to show it isn't a 1 year fluke) on our rookie list & then we will look at upgrading him. Parker is more deserving on an upgrade & we need to find out before the end of the season whether he is worth putting on the main list.

Totally agree. The issue is not one of talent, but time. We can still rookie list Smith next year, but not Parker. Surely that would mean that if it's neck and neck (as the club's been saying), you'd promote the bloke who you can't keep on next year.

 

[spindoctor]

Looks like Parker might get an upgrade next week.

But besides that, it also may suggest that the club have made a decision on Parker, one way or the other.

 

[sog35]

For those who doubt Smith made Jericho look average on the weekend. Admittedly Jericho is better forward than back but I thought Jericho was aweful and was once again impressed by Smith. Always seems to play well against West.

And I know you have talked about Illman before. He played on Stephen White who normally gives West a touch up and although he kicked 3 goals was relatively unsighted.

And there is a good young ruck going round for the Bloods as well by the name of Leonard Clark. Similar size to Cam Wood, touch older but in their league outings has been impressive. Rucked the second half unchanged and broke even with Feast and Oliver, two ex-AFL experienced/listed players. He has improved out of sight over just the last couple of weeks. He has got a pretty good teacher mind you.

 

[macca23]

Personally, I'm pleased that Smith has been elevated onto the list.

I've never been a fan of his, but then again I only see him irregularly. I'm happy to be proven wrong.

But without trying him, we'd never know.

He should be played this week at CHB, if that's his spot, and McGregor to CHF to straighten us up in attack.

Good luck to Smith - hope he does well.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Originally posted by macca23
Personally, I'm pleased that Smith has been elevated onto the list.

I've never been a fan of his, but then again I only see him irregularly. I'm happy to be proven wrong.

But without trying him, we'd never know.

He should be played this week at CHB, if that's his spot, and McGregor to CHF to straighten us up in attack.

Good luck to Smith - hope he does well.

Spot on.

I have also been a crtitic in the past but sometimes players are late developers. Especially talls. I had a quck chat with Roo the other day at the Alma and he said Smith has improved out of sight this year and he is confident that he can make the grade. I think its a smart move by AFC to promote him and see if he is up to it. His old man was a late developer so it might be in the genes.

People say we should have promoted Parker and overlooked Smith but that IMHO is being a bit biased. When it comes to Rookies you have to reward form. While Parker has been excelllent once he moved over to Glenelg, Smith has been very good all year long.

I think this promotion might be telling us that the club has already made up their mind on Parker one way or another. As spinny said, its possible that we will also promote Parker in the next couple of weeks.

 

[Alex99]

Congratulation Mathew Smith l hope you do the club and you’re family proud as well as following in your families football heritage. If you manage to pull on the AFC tri- colours in the next six weeks have a good one. Make a few people eat humble pie.

 

[Crow-mosone]

I hope Smith makes it, plenty of young bigs take time to get it together. Would hate to see him blossom at another club.

I read somewhere he will be 4th straight generation in his family to play senior football if he makes it.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Originally posted by Crow-mosone
I read somewhere he will be 4th straight generation in his family to play senior football if he makes it.

I think you read it here. Linky


From the AFL Record: The perfect football pedigree?
Janelle Ward.
AFL Record
8:47:13 PM Fri 19 July, 2002

Matthew Smith is not a familiar name in football circles. He is a lanky 19-year-old who is on Adelaide’s list but is yet to make his AFL debut.

Like dozens of other teenagers, he is waiting for his chance, building his body and honing his skills in the SANFL. But there is an exception – Smith has a football pedigree that would make Sunline proud.

His football heritage goes back to the birth of the VFL and beyond.

Smith’s father, Michael, played for South Melbourne; his grandfather, Stan, played for South Melbourne, and his great great grandfather, Jim McShane, was playing for Geelong when the VFL was first formed in 1897.

If you said football was in his blood, you’d be stating the obvious. For Matthew, being drafted by Adelaide at the
end of 2000 was a dream come true, but let’s start at the beginning.

In 1851, Philip McShane, 22, left a bleak Strabane in Tyrone, Ireland, and Mary McCabe, also 22, left Kilkenny during the potato famine for the warmer climes of Australia and a potentially more prosperous life.

They settled in Geelong, which was bigger than Melbourne and the fifth-largest town in the colony of Australia with a population of about 8000 at the end of the 1840s. The Geelong Town Council had just began work and the area was a year away from a population explosion caused by a gold rush.

The couple met in Geelong, married in October 1856 and had 12 children – seven boys and five girls – which wasn’t unusual for the times. There was Bridget (born 1857 died 1926), Mary (1858-1938), Margaret (1859-unknown), Fanny (1861-1942), John (1862-1887), Philip (1864-1935), Tom (1866-1902), Catherine (1867, died at birth), Joseph (1868-1950), James (1871-1946), Henry (1873-1912) and Michael (1874-1875).

The boys quickly found an outlet for their energies at the Geelong Football Club. John (known as Jack), Phil, Tom, Joseph, Jim and Henry all made their mark at the club and in June 1887 – the year in which Jack died of rheumatic fever – all except Henry played together in the one senior side.

As you might expect, the patriarch, Philip, who owned and operated two hansom cabs in Geelong, was proud of his boys and followed the side with a passion. He was in the crowd on match days and on the sidelines at training. His grandson, Stan Smith, now 69, tells a story related to him by his mother, Eileen Smith (nee McShane).

Philip’s constant support of the boys and Geelong upset an opposition supporter who scoffed: ‘What would you know about footy?’ to which Philip replied: ‘Not a lot, I just know how to breed them.’”

The football family tree starts with Jim McShane, the third youngest in the family. Around 184 centimetres, he is remembered by his grandson as a happy, boisterous man who was always very active.

“He would take me off to the park to kick the footy when I was three,” says Stan Smith.

“I’m told he was a strict but fair man with his children. He worked hard to keep in touch with his brothers and sisters and his own kids and they were a close-knit family. He had a great interest in football all his life and also followed the horses.”

McShane drove one of his father’s hansom cabs in Geelong and worked in the railways when the family moved to Hawthorn. He joined the Geelong Football Club in 1884 when he was just 13 and later played 82 VFL games for Geelong and kicked 53 goals as a centreman, rover and forward.

Before the VFL was formed, he played for Geelong and Essendon in the VFA. He continued in the VFL and retired in 1901. In one of his best performances, he kicked 11 goals against St Kilda at Corio Oval in round 17, 1899, to become the first player in the VFL to kick 10 or more goals.

It was another 15 years, in 1914, before his feat was even equalled and required a player of the calibre of **** Lee, one of the game’s great forwards, a premiership player and captain who played 230 games for Collingwood and kicked 707 goals.

Joe McShane, a ruckman, played 123 VFL games with Geelong and Carlton from 1897 to 1902. In the VFA, he was Geelong vice-captain for six years and was promoted to the captaincy in 1895. He was Carlton captain from 1902 to 1904. Henry, a defender/forward, played 113 VFL games with Geelong and Carlton (1897-1904).

Brothers Jack, Phil and Tom all had distinguished careers in the very powerful VFA. Phil was leading VFA goalkicker three times and kicked a record 58 goals in a season in 1886 – a big result given that a tally in the 30s was usually enough to take the title.

Jack, a centreman/rover, was vice-captain of Geelong when it won the championship in 1886. He died, aged 23, in 1887 after a rheumatic fever attack reportedly brought on by a cold. Newspaper reports say that 2000 people attended his funeral in Geelong and that his death was reported as far away as Perth.

It seems remarkable that with 10 surviving children, no VFL footballer was produced in the next generation. Of the five daughters, only Margaret married (James William Forde) and they had four children. Of the sons, Tom never married, Philip and Henry married but had no children, Joe married and had twins who died at birth. Only Jim was able to keep the family name alive.

Stan Smith says: “Coming from a family of 12, things had always been tough. Because conditions were still tight economically, I think many of the children made a conscious decision not to have children.”

Jim married Martha Musgrove and, like Jim’s parents, they had 12 children – six boys and six girls. The boys loved their football and played junior football, but despite readymade tutors in their father and uncles, they never progressed further.

So VFL football was denied a McShane in the following generation. Eileen, the third eldest of Jim’s children, married James (known as Clarrie) and they had three children – Stan, John and Pat.

The Stan Smith story

Stan Smith grew up in Hawthorn and then Albert Park and made his first splash in football at Middle Park Christian Brothers School when he captained the school side to a premiership in 1948 aged 16. He says that six of the 18 players in that team went on to play senior football at either League or Association level.

The same year, he was invited to try out with South Melbourne’s under-17s at the Lake Oval. He was 18 when he played his first VFL game against St Kilda in July 1951 – South won – and went on to play 26 games at half-back flank, centre half-back and full-back over four years. He was only 21 when injuries forced him out.

“I played on (John) Coleman – that was an absolute experience – (Ray) Poulter, (Fred) Flanagan, (Bill) Twomey, (Geoff) Leek, (Jock) Spencer and (John) Brady,” says Smith.

“In 1954, we were playing Melbourne at the MCG and we were told that if we got a chance, we were to hit (Denis) Cordner hard. (Cordner was Melbourne captain from 1951 to 1953 and best and fairest in 1954.) Ron Clegg was playing at centre half-back and I was on a half-back flank. Clegg came in from one side and I came in from another, but Cordner moved at the last minute and Clegg and I collided. We were both knocked out.

“I was black from just below the chest to above the knee and was out for eight weeks. It effectively ended my career. I played a year with Yarraville and a year with Nagambie, but really never got back to full strength.
“I’ve subsequently had three hip operations.”

It was definitely a career cut short as in 1953, a Sporting Globe columnist had written, partially tongue-in-cheek: “ Ron Clegg has no hope of regaining his centre half-back post while Stan Smith continues to do such a fine job.”

Stan, an accountant who later became a real estate auctioneer – and still dabbles on special occasions – said: “We trained on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I was fortunate that the fellow I worked for, a Carlton supporter, allowed me time off to go to training. I left work at 4.30, trained from 5pm to 6.30pm and then had night accountancy classes three times a week from 7 to 9pm.

“It was pretty good money back then. I was paid £15 a week by the club and £16 a week at work.”

Stan married Margaret Comerford in 1953 and they settled in Caulfield. They had four children – Julie, Paul, Michael and Fiona.

Enter Michael Smith.

Michael Smith, 43, says: “We’d go as a family to watch South Melbourne – every week, wherever they played and in rain, hail and shine.

“I was always interested in football and it was my burning ambition to play from a very young age. Matthew (his son) is exactly the same.”

Michael burst onto the football scene when he was 18, playing his first game – a winning one – for South Melbourne against Collingwood at Victoria Park in round 10, 1977. While his great grandfather held a VFL goalkicking record for 20 years, Michael has his name against a club record – he kicked five goals on debut. It was a brilliant debut but it is a definite sore point with his parents.

Early in 1977, Stan and Margaret decided to head to Europe for six months. Stan says: “We timed this trip on the fact that Michael was playing with South Melbourne’s under-19s and while we thought he had the potential to play senior footy, we believed it would be in 1978 or 1979.

“We left Melbourne in May and arrived in Nice in July. We collected our forwarded mail at the post office and were amazed – and shattered – to discover that Michael had made his debut and had kicked five goals against Collingwood. We both broke down. Margaret cried for four days.”

Michael played 32 games and retired from VFL football in 1981 due to a great opportunity to play football in South Australia. The family moved to Adelaide and in 1983 he played in the West Adelaide premiership side coached by Neil Kerley.

Now the Victorian manager for transport company Allied Express, Michael and his wife, Ingrid (Teunissen), have three children – Stephanie, 13, Nicholas, 16, who attends De La Salle and is in the Oakleigh Chargers’ under-18 squad, and Matthew.

Given the family’s football links, was there any pressure to steer the boys into football? Michael says: “We encouraged the kids to play any sport – football, cricket, swimming and netball for Stephanie. She was an A-section premiership player last year. For Matthew, it was just a case of getting comfortable with himself, finding something he was good at and sticking with it.”

Now for Matthew Smith

Matthew, 194 centimetres and 88 kilograms, was Adelaide’s third pick (No. 48 overall) in the 2000 AFL National Draft behind Laurence Angwin and Michael Handby. Three clubs – Adelaide, Port and Sydney – had been interested.

“I’d been playing with the Oakleigh under-18s in the season before the draft,” says Matthew.

"I was 17 so I told myself that if I didn’t get picked up, I could have another year in under-18s.

“I was fortunate enough to be selected by Adelaide. The draft was on the Sunday before my week of exams. It was pretty tough to concentrate on exams after that.

“I wasn’t able to join in any celebrations with schoolmates because I flew over to Adelaide the evening after my last exam for an orientation day – to meet the coaches and players. I flew back next day and had a week to get ready before heading to Adelaide.”

Matthew did pass his exams and is studying human movement part-time at the University of South Australia.
Level-headed would seem to be the best way to describe Matthew Smith and his family and his grandparents. While history has its place, Jim McShane seems to have had no influence on the sporting choices of subsequent generations.

Matthew says: “Pop and nan have told me about the McShanes, but I haven’t looked at it too closely. It was good to have a kick to kick with dad and pop, but I was certainly never pressured into playing footy. Mum and dad encouraged us to do any sport.

“I started playing footy when I was 11 in the under-12s and also did cricket and swimming at De La Salle until about year 11. I decided then that I was probably better at footy than those sports, so thought I’d concentrate on football.”

Things haven’t gone totally Matthew’s way since the draft. He was troubled by a heel injury last year but is now running pain-free. He came back through the Port Magpies reserves and was elevated to the seniors three weeks ago.

Last weekend, he was best on ground in a back pocket in Port’s 11.10 (76)-7.6 (48) win against Glenelg.

“I had been playing centre half-forward and full-forward, but last year played a lot in the backline. I do see myself playing more in the forward half,” he says.

Adelaide coach, Gary Ayres says that Matthew’s pedigree did play a part in his being drafted.

“He was somewhat of a smoky because he was only 17 at the time and hadn’t played a lot of footy at under-18 level,” says Ayres.

“One of the things that impressed us was that we knew his (family) background and that he had a good pedigree.

“He had a couple of setbacks last year – a corked thigh and then a serious heel injury which really restricted him. He battled through playing reserves for the Port Adelaide Magpies in the SANFL, but he was in a lot of pain.

“Now the foot is OK so we are looking at him to improve, play some senior football with the Magpies and look at him as a potential key position player.

“He’s a great kid and has an outstanding work ethic. Now, I guess, we have to find out just how much talent he has.”

Biding their time

It would seem that the grandchildren of Stan and Margaret have taken up the AFL challenge with gusto.

Eldest daughter Julie has three children including twin boys Sam and Tim, 12, who both play school and club football.
Son Paul, who played in South Melbourne’s seconds, has a son, Lachlan, in year 11 at Xavier College, who played in the school’s first 18 premiership side last year.

Daughter, Fiona, has five children, including four sons. Tom, 16, was selected in the Victorian under-15 side for the state titles in Albury last August, Edward (Ned) 12 and Xavier 10, have won best and fairests with Murrumbeena. Liam, 3, is biding his time. Apologies to all the sports-mad girls and talented musicians in the family.

THE FACTS
Name: Matthew Smith
Club: Adelaide
Number: 13
Born: March 29, 1983
Height: 194cms
Weight: 88kgs
Previous clubs: De La Salle, Oakleigh U18s

 

[Blues_Girl]

Originally posted by spindoctor
It's in The Advertiser today.

I guess that makes my source a creditable one.

 

[Jars458]

Originally posted by Blues_Girl
I guess that makes my source a creditable one.

Or you were just lucky

You had a 50% chance. Right or wrong

 

[DaveW]

So who is on our long term injury list?

 

[Tyson20]

Originally posted by DaveW
So who is on our long term injury list?

i would have thought one W Carey...

Just a guess

 

[naughty monkey]

Originally posted by sog35
...
And there is a good young ruck going round for the Bloods as well by the name of Leonard Clark. Similar size to Cam Wood, touch older but in their league outings has been impressive. Rucked the second half unchanged and broke even with Feast and Oliver, two ex-AFL experienced/listed players. He has improved out of sight over just the last couple of weeks. He has got a pretty good teacher mind you.

Thrashed Andrews a few weeks ago too. Thought he was very impressive.

 

[Blues_Girl]

Originally posted by Jars458
Or you were just lucky

You had a 50% chance. Right or wrong

Maybe maybe not

 

[spindoctor]

Ha! When I mentioned his perfect football pedigree last year in passing I got rubbished and harangued! Now it's in vogue!