Isaac Smith reveals the moment he realised he had to finally make a call on his football future
There were three options in front of Isaac Smith. Staying with Hawthorn, signing at Melbourne or joining the Cats. This is how he made the call.
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For a footballer accustomed to big crowds – and big rewards – on Grand Final day, Isaac Smith had a very different experience last year.
His own season had long been over and he was sitting alone at home in Melbourne, wrestling with the biggest football decision of his life.
He was watching as Geelong – one of two clubs trying to prise him away from Hawthorn – took on and ultimately lost to Richmond in the historic first night Grand Final at the Gabba in Brisbane.
The Cats were in the game for three quarters before another Dustin Martin masterclass tilted the ledger in the Tigers’ favour.
Speaking now, three months on, Smith stressed he had no idea on that Grand Final night whether he would stay in brown and gold, or exercise his free agency rights at either Geelong or Melbourne.
The Demons offered him a three-year deal; the Cats and the Hawks put two year offers in front of him as he edged back and forward in his own mind.
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“I hadn’t made a decision by Grand Final day,” Smith explained.
“(Wife) Candice was still at her mum and dad‘s place (with their daughter Isla), so I was home by myself, to be honest.
“It wasn’t a bad game of football actually.”
For months Smith had wrestled with the decision, which had been made all the more difficult because a shoulder injury effectively curtailed his season from Round 11.
Like the other injured senior Hawks, he had felt helpless inside Hawthorn‘s hub, as the club’s season sank almost without a trace.
“The hardest thing was that Clarko, (assistant coaches) Chris Newman, Sam Mitchell, Scott Burns and (football boss) Graham Wright and (CEO) Justin Reeves, whom I am all good friends, plus Ben Stratton, Liam Shiels, Jack Gunston, Ben McEvoy and that type of crew, were doing their best in trying to lead the club,” he said.
“But it is hard especially when you are not playing. You can see how much people were struggling, and you just wanted to help out.”
Then, for weeks after the 2020 season ended, he oscillated in his views.
His love and gratitude for the club remained strong, even if the opportunities presented by the suitors excited him and his family about what 2021 might look like.
But the pandemic and the clubs’ requirements to go into hubs to get the 2020 season completed brought about a re-evaluation for a host of footballers, including two others who ultimately chose Geelong as their new home in Jeremy Cameron and Shaun Higgins.
“It was tough in the hub, but as hard as it was, there were some good things. We got to know the families of the (Hawthorn) players better,” he said of the 2020 experience.
“But it (the experience) makes you sit back and assess things.”
When Hawthorn’s season ended with only five wins – the lowest in his time at the club – Smith was genuinely torn on his future.
He sought counsel from family members and even past teammates.
He resolved to take some time out with wife and daughter, who had been born in January last year.
“Because we were away in hubs for so long, we wanted to get away for some downtime (in Queensland) then we sort of trekked through New South Wales.”
“I took the approach ‘I am going to have two or three weeks of not thinking about it’.”
Yet the clock was ticking on a decision.
“I said to Candice the night before the Grand Final, ‘I’ve got to get home and sort my sh** out’.”
So he did.
Just five days after the Cats went down to the Tigers in the Grand Final by 31 points, Smith came to a decision that his football and his family would be best served by a move to Geelong after 210 games with Hawthorn.
It became public the next day, on the first morning of the free agency window.
“To be honest, mate, it was when I really worked through it all that it became clear what the decision needed to be,” he said.
“Melbourne was great and put forward a great package. Hawthorn will always be important to me. I have got a lot of friends there, not only in the playing group, but also in different levels around the club, and for a time it felt like you were going behind their back.
“But ultimately it fell to this (Geelong) and it just felt right.”
Smith laughed when asked what he would have told someone at the height of the Cats-Hawks rivalry a few years ago if they dared suggest he would finish up in the blue and white hoops.
“I certainly would have laughed at them,” he said with a smile.
“I didn’t expect it, but life changes and different opportunities get thrown up.
“Geelong has been a very good organisation for a long period of time now.
“The fact that it was a laid-back country atmosphere, which I grew up with, was important. My wife is also off a bit of land.
“We don’t have strong ties to the city other than the great friends we have (in Melbourne).
“Our roots are certainly in the country and we had always talked about wanting to bring up our family in the country.
“It’s funny, but if you break it all down, in the end, it is only a job. But it was a bloody difficult decision to make.”
Incredibly, the Cats had come close to securing Smith in late 2010.
Having played for North Ballarat in their VFL premiership side that year, he was on Cats’ radar along with Geelong Falcon youngster Billie Smedts.
In the end, the Cats went with Smedts at pick 15, and four selections later, the Hawks swooped on Smith.
The rest is history, as Smith graduated to become one of the game’s most dynamic wingmen, proving a pivotal player in the Hawks’ three consecutive flags from 2013-15.
A decade on, telling the Hawks – and Alastair Clarkson – he was leaving was tough, given their shared history, and some of the friendships that will last forever.
“That was difficult,” he said.
“You spend 10 years with someone, and it is always hard to move, but all good things have to come to an end.”
Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis provided the template years earlier.
“That’s just part of the game now. Hawthorn has been fortunate enough over my period at the club to bring some great people into it,” Smith said. “You get people in, but you have to expect them to lose some at times.
“There is probably no one bigger than Luke Hodge or Sam Mitchell.
“I did speak to a few blokes I played footy with (before making the decision). Everyone had differing views, but ultimately it comes back to your personal decision.”
Smith’s recovery from his shoulder injury meant he could come into the Cats’ GMHBA facilities earlier than expected, just before Christmas.
“I was probably a bit fortunate that because I was injured (during the season), I ended up having a longer lay-off,” he said. “I came back and spent some time before Christmas with some of the younger (Geelong) guys and got to know the place before everyone rolled in.”
While loath to individualise, he has been taken by the pre-season work of Brandan Parfitt and Charlie Constable, among others.
There were a few predictable, good-nature jibes from some of the senior Cats – a few who had once been fierce opponents – about Smith’s missed shot at goal after the final siren in the 2016 qualifying final.
“Everyone has been really respectful, mate,” he laughed. “It’s been nothing I don’t have on them.”
Smith has played more games against Geelong than any other opposition team – 20 of his 210 games – and frequently played on Mark Blicavs.
“Blics tagged me a few times,” he said. “Rhys Stanley and I certainly have had some fun words on the field, but it is all in good fun.”
“The rivalry has always been so big. At times you probably think it is hatred, but when you sit back and think about it, it’s just about respect.”
Geelong skipper Joel Selwood said this week Smith had already made a difference on the training track.
“Isaac has come from a really strong group and he has been a winner in the past and the system he has come out of, you can tell,” Selwood said.
“He asks lots of questions and questions things in the right way which is always nice to have that come in.”
Incredibly, Smith has only played one AFL game at GMHBA Stadium, in Round 2 last year.
“The dimensions are a little bit smaller, but in saying that, you don’t get caught too far from the ball at any one time, whereas at the ’G, you can get lost in space at times.”
He now lives “a two-minute drive” from the Kardinia Park precinct with Candice and Isla, who celebrated her first birthday recently.
The laid-back atmosphere of Geelong has been everything he had hoped for so far, and he makes no secret he is driven by the thought of the prospect of a fourth premiership medal.
“I am fortunate enough to have experienced it (premiership success), not just at AFL level, but pretty much at every level. That is obviously a driving motivation.
“We have a pretty good squad. There are no guarantees in football, but we will certainly give it a shake.”
Smith said the traditional Round 3 Easter Monday clash against his old side is something he is looking forward to, not dreading.
“The fans are our No. 1 stakeholders and we learnt more about that (in 2020),” he said.
“With my personality, I hated playing in front of no one.”
So what sort of reaction does he expect from those Hawks fans who cheered him through 210 games and 20 finals?
“I’m not sure which ones are going to boo me; they probably both will,” he joked.
Given what Smith meant to Hawthorn across a decade, and what he promises to bring Geelong in the next few years, that seems highly unlikely.
SMITH: I CAN PLAY FOR 3-5 MORE YEARS
Triple premiership player Isaac Smith believes his move to Geelong could see him play into his mid-30s, saying he hopes to go on for three to five more seasons.
As the classy 32-year-old wingman steps up his preparations with the Cats after a successful decade with Hawthorn, he believes the change of environment, the more relaxed lifestyle in Geelong and his own physical and mental freshness had sharpened his focus heading into 2021.
Conceding the decision to switch clubs late last year was the hardest of his football life, Smith said he had become a little too “comfortable” in a difficult 2020 season with a shoulder injury sidelining him just over halfway through the Hawks‘ campaign.
“I certainly don’t have the urge to keep playing until I can’t walk anymore, but I still think I’ve probably got three, four or five years left in football,” Smith explained.
“My shoulder is good (now).
“I‘ve been fortunate I haven’t had any major (injury) setbacks. I still have my power and speed. I think if you can keep your power and speed, you can keep playing.”
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