# Joel Smith (footballer, born 1996)

Joel Smith (born 25 February 1996) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A defender, 1.91 metres (6 ft 3 in) tall and weighing 90 kilograms (200 lb), Smith plays primarily on the half-back flank. He played Australian rules football at a young age before switching sports to basketball where he represented Australia at under-19 level. The son of former North Melbourne and Melbourne player Shaun Smith, he followed in his father's footsteps when he was recruited by Melbourne in 2015 as a category B rookie. After spending his first AFL season playing in the reserves, he made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2017 season.

## Early life

Smith played Australian rules football with Taylors Lakes from the under-10 level, where he won two best and fairest awards, before moving to the Maribyrnong Park Football Club for the under-16 season. He then switched sports to basketball and had a successful career, representing Australia at under-19 level and playing with the Geelong Supercats in the South East Australian Basketball League in 2015.

## AFL career

Smith was signed by the Melbourne Football Club in October 2015 as a category B rookie and was eligible to join Melbourne's list immediately as he hadn't been registered in an Australian rules football competition for at least three years. He played his first match in the 2016 season in the Victorian Football League (VFL) Development League for Melbourne's affiliate team, the Casey Scorpions; after one match in the development league, he was promoted to the VFL seniors in a 56-point win over Collingwood at Olympic Park Oval in round two. After four matches in the VFL, he was sidelined for over two months due to a groin injury. After returning from injury to the VFL, he played the remainder of the season including the grand final loss against Footscray at Etihad Stadium.
Described as one of the standouts at training during the 2017 pre-season by AFL Media journalist Ben Guthrie, Smith played in the opening two matches of the JLT Community Series. He was forced to miss the week-three match against West Coast at Domain Stadium due to a toe injury. Despite the injury, he was promoted to the senior list in place of Mitch King, who was on the long-term injury list, and made his debut in a 30-point win against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium in the opening round of the season. During the first quarter, he dislocated his shoulder and was forced to miss the remainder of the match.
Smith was provisionally suspended in mid-October 2023 after a drug-test sample he provided after the Demons' win over Hawthorn in round 23 returned a positive result for cocaine. In February 2024, he was accused of trafficking cocaine and was set to face a minimum two-year suspension.

## Statistics

Updated to the end of 2024.
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T |
| 2017 | Melbourne | 44 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 14 | 26 | 2 | 8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 4.7 | 8.7 | 0.7 | 2.7 |
| 2018 | Melbourne | 44 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 46 | 48 | 94 | 29 | 31 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 5.8 | 6.0 | 11.8 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2019 | Melbourne | 44 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2020 | Melbourne | 44 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 15 | 38 | 9 | 10 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 5.4 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
| 2021 | Melbourne | 44 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 20 | 9 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.7 | 3.0 | 6.7 | 3.0 | 1.3 |
| 2022 | Melbourne | 44 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 18 | 48 | 14 | 12 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.3 | 2.6 | 6.9 | 2.0 | 1.7 |
| 2023 | Melbourne | 29 | 14 | 11 | 4 | 59 | 28 | 87 | 37 | 32 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 4.2 | 2.0 | 6.2 | 2.6 | 2.3 |
| 2024 | Melbourne | 29 | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season | Banned for the 2024 season |
| Career | Career | Career | 42 | 12 | 6 | 181 | 132 | 313 | 100 | 97 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 4.3 | 3.1 | 7.4 | 2.4 | 2.3 |
Notes
* ↑ The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
* ↑ 2022 statistics include one game in which Smith was substituted out of the game with an injury (round 7) and was replaced by Kade Chandler and two games in which he was an unused medical substitute (Qualifying Final and Semi Final).