St Mary’s ruckman Ryan Smith says team football and boom recruits are his club’s strengths

THREE premierships and two losing grand finals are enough ammunition to get St Mary’s ruckman Ryan Smith searching for a lot more.

St Mary's ruckman Ryan Smith and Waratah counterpart Arnold Kirby contest a boundary throw-in. Picture: Felicity Elliott AFLNT/Media

RYAN Smith’s Premier League career at 33-time NTFL premier St Mary’s has stretched to 16 seasons, three premierships and 182 games.

And like an acquired taste for fine wine, the lion-hearted ruckman wants another drink out of the TIO premiership cup.

Smith’s emotions boiled over after last season’s grand final loss to Nightcliff, something he has not forgotten.

“Grand final losses always hurt, they are the games you seem to remember more than the ones you win,” he told the NT News.

“I’ve played in two losing grand finals and they haunt me every day. It’s why I play footy like it’s my last game, because you never know if you’re going to play in another granny.

“I definitely want to get back in there and try and finish off with a couple more flags, even if I don’t know how many seasons I’ve got left.”

Smith’s new electrical business and a growing family are making it harder for the big man to train regularly, knowing it’s all for the love of the game.

His search for a fourth premiership medallion is on track with the Saints winning their seventh consecutive at the expense of Palmerston.

The addition of southern recruits Dylan and Jack Landt, Lucas Jellyman-Turner and Brandyn Grenfell and young gun Beau Tedcastle has the Green Machine running on all cylinders.

“Playing in another grand final was always our plan at the start of the season, it’s just been boosted by having so much playing talent available from Victoria,” Smith said.

“We’re just trying to play for each other, even though we’ve got a lot of new blokes at the club and trying to build the club culture.

“A lot of those new blokes have jumped on board by adapting to our style of game when you can understand why the players want to build their own reputations, but we’re not like that at St Mary’s.”

Smith has reigning premier Nightcliff as the premiership frontrunner after their comprehensive dismissal of the Buffaloes on Saturday night.

“They always seem to be doing the right things and we’ve certainly had some good matches against them in the last couple of seasons,” he said.

“But I think the competition this season could throw up a surprise, particularly post-Christmas when the serious stuff begins. It depends on who keeps their playing talent together and how they monitor their fly-ins with five games left until the finals.”