Darren Smith

Versatile, powerful and dynamic, Darren Smith’s glittering career saw the Souths Woodridge junior enjoy success in Australia, Britain and New Zealand.

The older brother of fellow Maroon, Jason, the centre / back rower debuted for Easts Tigers as a 17-year-old in 1986, and toured New Zealand with the Queensland Residents side in 1988, that same year representing Brisbane against the touring Great Britain Lions.

He signed with Canterbury-Bankstown in 1990, and proved invaluable as a try-scoring centre, or hard-running edge forward for the Bulldogs. Queensland named Smith as a bench utility for Game II in 1992, with his next six Maroon appearances also coming off the bench. He played 22 Origin matches, his starting debut coming at centre in the 1998 series.

He finished the series at lock. Smith signed with the Brisbane Broncos in 1995, and capped off his stint at the club with a 1998 premiership ring; Dally M Centre award, and top try scorer honours. His 23 tries in 1998 brought him level with Steve Renouf in the category of most tries in a season, with Renouf achieving his milestone in 1994.

Smith rated Broncos' coach, Wayne Bennett the biggest influence on his career, with Bennett also coaching him in the successful 1998 and 2001 Origin campaigns.

Smith returned to Canterbury in 1999, playing another four seasons there, before signing with St Helens in England. He had already represented Australia in six Tests, in 1998-99, when Kangaroos' coach, Chris Anderson called on Smith for the Second Test of the 2003 campaign in England, following a spate of injuries.

Wayne Bennett got the best out of me. He had a lot of belief in me. He knew what I wanted as a player and what sort of a person I was.

Darren Smith FOG #76

Smith had just finished the Super League season with St Helens, and while he was still in England, waiting for his daughter, Melanie's school year to finish, he was officially contracted to Brisbane Easts for the 2004 Queensland Cup campaign.

On his return to Brisbane, Smith was called up by an injury hit Broncos, and played another 18 games for the NRL club in his last two seasons. He finished one game shy of being a triple centurion at club level, having played 185 games for Canterbury; 102 for the Broncos and 99 for Easts.

He became the Broncos' oldest player in 2005, at 36 years, 284 days. On top of his 22 Origin matches and seven Tests, he also played three Tri-Series matches for Queensland in 1997, and five Super League Tests, three on tour in England.

After his retirement as a player, Smith remained involved in the game in a number of different roles, including first grade coach at Easts; assistant coach at Souths Magpies and CEO at Easts.

He had been appointed Easts' CEO when called up by the Broncos in 2005. He also has worked as a secondary school teacher.