When Jagga Smith crossed the white line for the first time at the SCG earlier this month, the air was thick with more than just the Moore Park humidity.
The kid carried with him the weight of the famous dark Navy Blue guernsey yes - but tucked into the seams of the No.7 were the decades of mud-stained Smith family glories earned in the iron-rich coastal soils of Tasmania’s North West.
As Jagga prepared for the opening bounce, his father Mick watched on from the stands with the quiet pride of a man who knows exactly what it takes - and somewhere higher still, looking down with a grin to match his legendary stature, was his grandfather the late Ricky Smith, a genuine legend of the game on the other side of the Strait.
The story of the Smith football lineage took on a mystical quality on draft night in 2024. Just moments after Lance Whitnall handed Jagga the cherished Carlton jumper, the phone lines connecting a solid core of Tasmanian football purists began to hum.
Bill Lane, a man whose passion for the Blues is matched only by his encyclopedic knowledge of Tasmanian footy, helped unearth the magnitude of Jagga’s inheritance. The kid wasn’t just a “natural”; he carried a kindred link with a Tasmanian Hall of Famer.
Through a magnificent 16-season career across Longford, Penguin, Wynyard, and Smithton, the elder Smith became a folk hero within the ranks of the North West Football Union. As his former Wynyard teammate Merv Saltmarsh said this week, Ricky was a force of nature and a contested beast at centre half-back.
“The big No. 4 was without peer,” Saltmarsh said of Jagga’s grandfather.
“He never picked up a player in his life, but he didn’t have to. He ruled centre half-back like no other in the club’s, north-west coast’s and Tasmania’s football history.
“In 1976 Peter McKenna went around for Devonport, and I remember him telling me after a game against Wynyard that Ricky would have made the grade as a VFL player no problem. Ricky stood 6ft3 in the old measurement, but he was great in the air and he had great closing speed for a backman. In the sprints at Wynyard he’d run second only to Colin Robertson, who was an elite athlete and later on a Norm Smith Medallist.”
“There’s not much more that can be said of Ricky Smith because the record speaks for itself.”
The record of which Saltmarsh speaks spans Ricky’s 370 matches across five clubs (Longford, Penguin, Wynyard, Smithton and Burnie) from 1970-’85.
Along the way came two Premierships for Wynyard and another with Smithton; Best & Fairest honours with Penguin (three times), Wynyard (five times) and Smithton (once), together with competition B&Fs in the NWFU (twice) and multiple call-ups for both the NWFU and Tasmanian representative teams.
Ricky also earned selection in Penguin’s Team of the Century, and in 2014 was inducted into the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame.
As a dedicated Collingwood fan, Ricky had accepted an offer to train at Victoria Park in the early 1970s, and he made an immediate impression. But the Smith family farm remained the priority, and Mick was never one for the big smoke anyway, so the League foray was effectively over before it had begun.
In the AFL National Draft of November 1988, Ricky’s son and Devonport’s own Mick Smith was called by Collingwood teenager Mick Smith (Jagga’s father) with its fourth selection (53 overall) – the Magpies having earlier pitched for South Fremantle’s Mark Bayliss at 11, Clarence’s Colin Alexander at 25, and Sturt’s Scott Russell (a future Collingwood Premiership player) at 39.
Carlton, with overall selection 54, drafted Sandhurst‘s Michael Sexton – a future 200-game key defender and member of the Blues’ 16th and last Grand Final triumph of 1995.
Mick never managed a senior appearance in the black and whites; for this was a time before the drafting age was lifted - and at 16 he just wasn’t ready for the lofty demands inevitably required of a League footballer on the mainland. But the experiences gleaned have served Mick well in his dealings with his boy, as he reveals in his own words following this story.
Fast forward to November 2024, the emergence of Mick’s boy Jagga as an elite draft talent, and the complexities facing Nick Austin and his fellow Club recruiters in landing the Oakleigh Chargers captain and Best & Fairest.
It’s worth reminding of the lengths to which Team Austin went to land Jagga – a footballer Austin unhesitatingly declared the draft’s best by way of his elite ball-winning capability and overall leadership. The club was party to a complex three-way trade deal involving West Coast and Richmond, which saw it send selections 12 and 14 (previously acquired) and 73 to the Eagles, in exchange for their prized pick three, and selections 63 and 68 – with the Tigers landing 14 from West Coast for Liam Baker.
There is a bittersweet edge to this feature, however, as Ricky Smith passed away after a short illness at the age of 76 in April 2024. Ricky never saw the confetti fall on draft night, but according to Mick, “Dad knew that Jagga was on his way”.
When Jagga hunts the leather against Melbourne at the MCG this Sunday, the newly-re-signed Carlton footballer won’t just be playing for the four premiership points. He’ll be running with the speed of a Wynyard sprinter, the tenacity of a Devonport prospect, and the indomitable spirit of the big No.4.
It can truly be said that the Smith family legacy has found its way to the AFL . . . and it looks magnificent in Navy Blue.
On the eve of his son’s first senior appearance for the Carlton Football Club earlier this month, Mick Smith, as the man in the middle, spoke of his relationship with his father Ricky and of course Jagga.
The following is Mick’s story;
Looking back, Dad [Ricky] was more of an introvert rather than an extrovert. But there was no mistaking his confidence. It came from discipline, preparation and knowing he had done the work. On the footy field that would have shown in his composure, reliability and consistency. Off the field it showed in the way he carried himself, as a hard-working family man with a small circle of close friends who enjoyed the simple pleasures – fishing, following his beloved Collingwood Magpies, and always being present.
Dad was a great mentor of mine - never too involved with my footy - but always there in the background to offer sound words of wisdom when required. His greatest advice was “preparation is everything son” – profound words which I’m sure resonated with Jagga at such a young age with his preparation being so meticulous.
I know it must have been hard for Mum and Dad at the time I was drafted from Tasmania to Collingwood back in the 1988 draft and left for the mainland at 16 years of age. Back then you could be drafted at 16, but they soon lifted the draft age to 18 given the lack of retention.
My stint at Collingwood was a short but valuable experience which I have passed on to Jagga throughout his football journey.
Dad loved his children and grandchildren and he had an extra special bond with Jagga through their shared love of footy. He loved watching Jagga’s games when he could – especially the carnivals from Under12s which he never missed.
After every one of Jagga’s games, Dad would call him from ‘Tassie’ and ask for a comprehensive game review which Jagga would excitedly oblige.
I was quite young when Dad was playing his footy in Tasmania, but there was a common theme I can recall whenever I was in and around the clubrooms - “Your old man was one of the best footballers ever to play in Tasmania, he was rarely beaten in his 370-game career, a champion on and off the field”.
I remember Dad proudly speaking of his many times representing Tasmania and playing with the great Darrel Baldock.
Collingwood had a keen interest in Dad, and he was invited over for a few weeks during pre-season in the early 1970s by the late Tommy Sherrin. He was quick to impress with his strong footy IQ, physical presence (ironically, he was a strong-marking key defender rather than a midfielder) and the Magpies were keen for him to stay on.
But Dad was never keen on the big cities and working back on the family farm was more of a priority at the time.
When Jagga ran out for the first time wearing the Carlton jumper, he had enormous support from family and friends – and I’m sure Dad, his No.1 supporter, was looking down with immense pride as his grandson embarked on his AFL journey.
