Nigel Smart

This article is about the Australian rules footballer. For the cryptographer, see Nigel Smart (cryptographer).

Nigel Smart
Personal information
Full name	Nigel Smart
Date of birth	(1969-05-21) 21 May 1969
Original team(s)	Christies Beach (SFL) South Adelaide (SANFL)
Height/Weight	188 cm (6 ft 2 in) / 91 kg (14 st 5 lb)
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1991-2004	Adelaide	278 (116)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2004 season.
Career highlights
Club 2x AFL Premiership: 1997-1998 3x All-Australian 1991, 1993, 1998 Adelaide Team of the Decade (1991-2001) Representative National Football Carnival Championship: 1993

Nigel James Smart (born 21 May 1969) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented Adelaide in the Australian Football League (AFL) and South Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) during the 1990s and 2000s. Smart played most of his career in defence, and became a crowd favourite easily identifiable with his bald head and goatee.

Career

Smart made his senior debut in 1988 in the SANFL with South Adelaide Football Club and was a member of the Adelaide Crows squad for their inaugural season in 1991. Smart was named at full-back for Adelaide's Round One match against Hawthorn, standing superstar full-forward Jason Dunstall. On his AFL debut Smart collected six kicks, nine handballs and grabbed six marks.

At the end of the 1991 season, Smart would become Adelaide's first ever All-Australian, selected in the Back pocket.

One of the most famous incidents attributed to Smart's career was during the 1992 pre-season, when the Crows organised a session to walk over hot coals. Smart suffered severe burns to his feet but returned to play football soon after.

Smart was one of the key players in Adelaide's resurgence under Malcolm Blight, and in the 1997 AFL Grand Final against St Kilda, he had the honour of kicking the final goal of the match as Adelaide won their first AFL premiership. He was also a member of the Crows team which won the 1998 AFL Grand Final, the Crows becoming the first team since Hawthorn in 1988 and 1989 to win back-to-back premierships.

Statistics

†	Denotes seasons in which Smart won an AFL Premiership

Season	Team	#	Games	D	K	H	M	T	H/O	G	B	D	K	H	M	T	H/O	G	B
			Totals									Averages (per game)
1991	Adelaide	7	20	262	139	123	47	28	0	2	1	13.1	7.0	6.2	2.4	1.4	0.0	0.1	0.1
1992	Adelaide	7	17	240	131	109	35	31	3	0	2	14.1	7.7	6.4	2.1	1.8	0.2	0.0	0.1
1993	Adelaide	7	22	356	220	136	81	38	29	23	17	16.2	10.0	6.2	3.7	1.7	1.3	1.0	0.8
1994	Adelaide	7	17	210	123	87	56	22	10	13	19	12.4	7.2	5.1	3.3	1.3	0.6	0.8	1.1
1995	Adelaide	7	22	341	189	152	59	49	8	14	6	15.5	8.6	6.9	2.7	2.2	0.4	0.6	0.3
1996	Adelaide	7	22	324	208	116	55	57	11	7	8	14.7	9.5	5.3	2.5	2.6	0.5	0.3	0.4
1997†	Adelaide	7	22	341	253	88	84	47	6	13	8	15.5	11.5	4.0	3.8	2.1	0.3	0.6	0.4
1998†	Adelaide	7	24	426	304	122	88	80	19	13	12	17.8	12.7	5.1	3.7	3.3	0.8	0.5	0.5
1999	Adelaide	7	21	334	217	117	69	30	13	12	10	15.9	10.3	5.6	3.3	1.4	0.6	0.6	0.5
2000	Adelaide	7	18	293	178	115	58	28	5	3	1	16.3	9.9	6.4	3.2	1.6	0.3	0.2	0.1
2001	Adelaide	7	23	356	223	133	78	43	18	7	11	15.5	9.7	5.8	3.4	1.9	0.8	0.3	0.5
2002	Adelaide	7	23	259	150	109	63	44	6	3	3	11.3	6.5	4.7	2.7	1.9	0.3	0.1	0.1
2003	Adelaide	7	21	258	133	125	57	36	1	3	5	12.3	6.3	6.0	2.7	1.7	0.0	0.1	0.2
2004	Adelaide	7	6	56	35	21	14	11	2	3	1	9.3	5.8	3.5	2.3	1.8	0.3	0.5	0.2
Career			278	4056	2503	1553	844	544	131	116	104	14.6	9.0	5.6	3.0	2.0	0.5	0.4	0.4

Post career

After his retirement from football, Smart was an unsuccessful candidate for the Liberal Party for the electoral district of Norwood in the 2006 South Australian state election.

Smart has been a member of the Crows' board since 2005, and assumed the role of Deputy Chairman for the 2009. On 1March 2013, Smart became the Chief Operating Officer of the Adelaide Football Club.