Isaac Smith (footballer)



Isaac Smith is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Early career

Hailing from Cootamundra, Smith played football and basketball with Luke Breust in Temora, with both ending up at Hawthorn where they played together in the 2013 AFL Grand Final. Smith moved to Wagga Wagga when he was 13, where he played with Hawthorn's Matt Suckling in the Wagga Hawks for several years before both moved to the Wagga Tigers where they won two premierships.
Smith later moved to Victoria to take up a Sports Management Degree at the University of Ballarat. Joining his mates at Redan, Smith first aired his raking left foot in Redan's reserves. After winning the 2009 senior Ballarat Football League Grand Final, he resisted North Ballarat's overtures to do a pre-season with them, but by midway through 2010, he was not only being pulled again by the Roosters, but pushed from within by Redan.
Smith had a meteoric rise in 2010, starting the year playing with Redan in the BFL and finishing in North Ballarat’s Victorian Football League premiership side. Smith was also a member of the successful Victorian Country Football League team that won the 2010 Australian Country Football Championships in Canberra.

AFL career

Smith was Hawthorn's first pick in the 2010 AFL Draft.
During the 2011 season, Smith drew attention for his reliance on speed rather than strength or size in his playing.
Smith was widely regarded as having a good 2013 season, and was a member of the 2013 Hawthorn premiership side. His performance in the 2013 Grand Fina included kicking an outstanding 50m goal in the last quarter.
In the 2016 Qualifying Final match against traditional rivals Geelong, Smith drew attention for missing a relatively simple shot on goal after the siren, the scoring of which would have won Hawthorn the game, and automatically sent them to the preliminary final. Hawthorn would be eliminated from the finals series following a loss in their Semi-Final match against the Western Bulldogs the following week.
From 2017 to 2019, Smith served as Co-Vice-Captain of the Hawks along with Liam Shiels, but both were replaced in that role prior to the 2019 season by Jack Gunston.
Smith is currently a member of Hawthorn's leadership group. and has been described as the "quintessential modern wingman".

Statistics

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2011
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2012
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2013
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2014
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2015
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2016
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2017
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2018
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2019
! colspan=3| Career
! 200 !! 160 !! 115 !! 2605 !! 1674 !! 4279 !! 1115 !! 579 !! 0.8 !! 0.6 !! 13.0 !! 8.4 !! 21.4 !! 5.6 !! 2.9

Honours and achievements

Team
Individual