Premiership SANFL Redleg Ed Smart becomes a VAFA Redleg
Ed Smart knew nothing about the VAFA when he joined Old Melburnians. But after only three training sessions he understood he was entering a quality competition.
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How did Old Melburnians get Smart?
Recruiting is often a frustrating caper for clubs and coaches, but the way coach Paul Satterley tells it, securing accomplished SANFL player Ed Smart was refreshingly straightforward.
James Gallagher, one of Smart’s former teammates, alerted Satterley that the two-time Norwood premiership player was heading to Melbourne with work.
Satterley called him. Smart was keen. And, would you believe, pretty soon OM had an excellent recruit.
It was hard to keep up with all the high-profile arrivals in the VAFA pre-season.
No sooner had one been noted than another was being announced.
There was Tom Boyd. David Armitage. Ryan Schoenmaker. Patrick Kerr. Matt Dea. David Mirra. Sam Dunell. Jay Kennedy-Harris.
Smart was added to the list late in the piece. He was less heralded than some of the others but Old Melburnians knew it had a fine player.
The player himself knew little about his new club or competition.
“I had no idea about it (the VAFA),’’ Smart, 26, said.
“I really didn’t understand what the level of footy was going to be like, to be honest.
“I found out the Ammos in Melbourne in the, what’s it called, the Premier league, there’s no player payments. I sort of liked the sound of that, to be honest. It means you get a lot of genuine people playing footy for the right reasons, a good culture.
“With my work over here I was going to be busy and didn’t have the time to go chasing cash. I don’t think I would have enjoyed being the focal point and being paid more than guys who had been at their club forever.’’
Told Western Bulldogs premiership hero Boyd would be playing for St Kevin’s, Smart said: “Yeah? Good on him.’’
“I’ll be honest. I’m the biggest non-footy nut ever,’’ he said. “Like, I love playing, but when I was playing in the SANFL I would not have known maybe 95 per cent of the guys I was playing against, unless I knew them personally. I’ve never been one to follow the footy too much or understand who’s playing against me.’’
But, he quickly added, he knew Boyd. “He’s about 6’10 and twice my weight!’’
Smart finished up with Norwood at the end of last season and intended to go back to his local club, Onkaparinga Valley (“It’s an unbelievable club,’’ he said).
Then his job as a construction project manager sent him to Melbourne.
Without a club, he spoke to his former teammate Gallagher, who got on to Satterley.
“Satts’ rang me and we had a good chat and pretty much after that I didn’t really want to talk to anyone else,’’ he said. “I like to keep things simple. I had a chat with the president (Chris Wischer) after that and told them yeah, I’ll have a kick there.’’
The SANFL Redleg became the VAFA Redleg.
Smart got in three training sessions before the coronavirus pandemic set in.
He was impressed.
“The skill level was high and the training was quite professional and the ground was unbelievable,’’ he said. “It was pretty disappointing when they looked it all down. I was looking forward to getting into it.’’
He said the break had allowed him to improve his fitness; he’d taken advantage of not having to do a Norwood pre-season.
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Smart said he would like to play in the OM midfield this year.
At Norwood, he was used mostly at half forward and on the wing as he carved out 100 senior games and figured in the 2012 and 2014 premierships.
Smart is proud of what he achieved in the SANFL after joining the Redlegs as a “self-doubting, young, skinny footballer from Sacred Heart’’.
“I’ve always tried to make sure I do the best I can to help the team win, and that’s been steady through the last seven, eight years,’’ he said.
That approach will do Satterley nicely when the season finally starts and he can get Smart into his team.