Craig Smith (rugby league, born 1973)


Craig Smith is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s.

Biography

The Melbourne Storm leading point-scorer in the club's debut year had to sit on the sidelines for much of 1999 due to the good form of Matt Geyer. Smith trained in Melbourne but flew back to Brisbane on weekends to play with the Storms’ feeder club, Brisbane Norths, in the Queensland Cup competition.
Smith was re-instated on the wing before the 1999 semi-final series when coach Chris Anderson dropped his son Ben and moved Geyer to. Anderson also made Smith the primary goal-kicker. Smith's boot proved the difference in three sudden-death victories, culminating in his three goals and penalty try from the wing in the 1999 NRL grand final.
Smith rejected Melbourne's offer for the 2000 NRL season and retired. He now lives in Perth working in property maintenance. In 2017, Smith spoke about his time in rugby league saying "We were walking around in Melbourne and were three times the size of everyone else, that is how they knew who the rugby league players were back then, nobody knew anything about the sport. At our first game they were cheering and I don’t think they knew what they were cheering about".

Statistics

NRL

†Denotes seasons in which Smith won an NRL Premiership