AFL grand final 2022: Isaac Smith wins Norm Smith Medal for best on ground
Isaac Smith played one of the best games of his career to become the oldest Norm Smith medallist on Saturday. But was it unanimous? See the full voting here.
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Isaac Smith said goodbye to his grandfather a fortnight ago.
Days out from the Cats’ preliminary final, Smith made the drive up to Albury to hug his pop for the last time.
Kevin Smith was not only Isaac’s grandfather, he was his hero, and on Wednesday night he passed away of heart failure.
Imagine how proud pop must have been looking down on Smith on Saturday as the dashing wingman ran riot for a team he had long considered the arch enemy.
Racking up 32 possessions and three blistering goals, Smith played one of the best games of his career to become the league’s oldest Norm Smith medallist, aged 33.
Smith, after kissing his black armband upon the premiership dais, said the victory was for his grandfather.
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“I raced up there just before the prelim and got to spend 24 hours with him which was nice,” Smith said.
“He was a great man, he was my hero growing up and my role model as I became a young man.
“He was such a humble, cheeky, well-mannered gentleman and I feel honoured to have him as a grandfather.
“Dad was pretty upset. He was dad’s dad, so it has been a big few days for him.
“But I have a great family and it has brought us all together again.”
A father of two, Smith has also been in and out of hospital in the back half of the season as his baby boy Emmett overcame some recent health hurdles.
“I have two young kids now and I haven’t been getting much sleep lately so I was going out there thinking I hope I have got enough in the tank today,” he said.
“But I did.”
If he was tired from those demands of being a dad, it didn’t show as Smith looked more like the Road Runner than a weary veteran powering Geelong to an 81-point rout over Sydney Swans at the MCG.
There was the two blistering first term goals as Smith kept his feet when others fell over, that long bomb from 50m in the third and the wild celebration, and more than 770m gained for the day.
In the third, Cameron handed off the Sherrin to a running Smith and pointed goal ward as Smith launched at the big sticks and turned his back.
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He knew it was home.
“Jezza gave it to me and said ‘goals’ so I didn’t even look to be honest,” Smith said.
And when Joel Selwood slotted that glorious check side goal in the last term to perhaps cap a legendary career, guess who dug out the hard-fought hand pass to set up the unforgettable moment?
It was Smith, scrapping as hard as ever, with his 14th score involvement.
You could see the pure elation on the star midfielder’s face as he leapt on to the ring of a dozen Cats’ players who mobbed their warrior skipper.
This was another dizzying moment in a career so full of highs there is now barely any room left in the trophy cabinet.
The many premiership reunions will be sweet.
Smith has won three flags with the Hawks, one at North Ballarat in the VFL, one at Redan and two more for Wagga Tigers.
That’s eight premierships, making him surely, one of the most successful Australian rules players in the country.
He said it felt surreal in the rooms post-match.
“I feel a little bit embarrassed with it all, but it is something I’m very proud to wear.”
His head was spinning.
In a sense, Geelong had always been the arch enemy to Smith.
Over a decade at Hawthorn, Smith has been locked in more epic battles with the Cats than he can remember as part of footy’s most ferocious modern day rivalry.
But by 5pm on Saturday, his script flipped. This Hawthorn great joined the Cats’ premiership brotherhood.
When he came to Geelong two years ago, he was a big part of the dad’s army gags as the Cats took a punt on a 31-year-old.
But as Smith had a field day on the wing, helping step up for the injured Max Holmes on Saturday, and then climbed up on to the premiership dais, it was the Cats who were laughing.
The club has rewritten the rebuild rule book, not by selling the farm for Cameron and Patrick Dangerfield Co, but rather by adding some prized cattle.
Smith picked the Cats over Melbourne two years ago, and copped some ribbing from friends about whether it was the right call late last year as the Demons took out the cup in Perth.
But there is no anguish now for the man born in Young in New South Wales, the cherry capital of Australia.
“There were a few jokes going around but they (Demons) are an amazing footy club,” he said.
“They got to taste it last year but fortunately we got it this year.
“It has been a great move.
“I never questioned the move because it was more than about just about playing football.
“It was about lifestyle and Geelong are a great club and the learnings I have got from not just about football but the organisation has been invaluable as well.
“They have been fantastic for us and we feel very fortunate.”
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