He couldn’t make Glenelg’s under-15 side or then the South Adelaide under 17s. But Nigel Smart became Adelaide’s first All Australian in 1991 and played what was for a time a club record 278 AFL games.

The athletic defender was a slow developer and kept a low profile during his first 50 league games with South before a break-out season in 1990, when he played State football and was rewarded with a spot on Adelaide’s inaugural list.

Smart was the only player from the first game against Hawthorn to survive until the end of the club’s first decade. He will also be remembered for his fire-walking during Adelaide’s pre-season camp at Rapid Bay. Smart made it across the hot coals and despite suffering from blisters was able to play a trial the following weekend.

Smart could play at either end of the ground but it was as a rebounding defender that he spent most of his career. He was an All Australian for a second time in 1993 and then again in 1998 and a premiership player in 1997 and then 1998, when he kicked three goals after being shifted forward.

Off the field, he was also well respected and worked with the AFL Players Association, developing player welfare. Smart played his last (and 278th) AFL game in June 2004 - a home win over the Western Bulldogs.

Smart has been a member of the AFC Board since 2005 and assumed the role of deputy Chairman in 2009.

Nigel Smart at the Crows
Guernsey number: 7
Crows debut: Round 1 v Hawthorn, 1991.
AFC games: 278. AFC goals: 116.
Recruited from: South Adelaide (SANFL).
Original squad selection 1991.
DOB: May 21, 1969

He said: “From the outset ,football was a passion for me and it always has been. That’s how I’ve approached football - that you get paid to play was just a bonus.”

Random info:
• Is the oldest player to have worn the Crows guernsey. He was aged 35 and 30 days when he played his last game in round 13 of the 2004 season.
• He polled a Brownlow Medal vote (1) in his first AFL game
• More known as a defender, Smart still managed to kick 116 career goals including two bags of five.

Crows career: