Australian Football

Don Smith was a champion Sandgate centre half back and captain from the Sunshine Coast who played 300 games between 1970 and 1984. He was selected in the Queensland Team of the Century in 2003. A 1968 All-Australian under-15 Schoolboys selection, he won the Grogan Medal as a 20-year-old in 1973 and again in 1979. He enjoyed premiership triumphs in 1970, 1971, 1974, and 1979, and played in losing Grand Final sides in 1972, 1973, and 1976. 

A seven-time club Best and Fairest winner in a very handy team, Smith played 21 State games despite some early indifference to representative football. Pursued by several AFL clubs, he once trialed with Collingwood before rejecting Melbourne’s inclement weather. 

After leaving Sandgate, Smith took up a position as captain-coach of Nambour before calling time on his senior playing career in 1988 after 70 games with the club. In 1992, with his thirst for football not sated, he gained All-Australian selection in the over 35’s Super Rules. A junior coach with the new Coolum Beach Football Club in 2007 and 2008, he is honoured each year by the Brisbane Lions when the club presents the Don Smith Most Professional Player Award, named in his honour.

Author - Murray Bird and Peter Blucher