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 m tall and weighing 90 kg, 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 and  player, Shaun Smith, he followed in his fathers 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 is the son of former and  player, Shaun Smith. He played Australian rules football at a young age, playing with Taylors Lakes from under ten level, where he won two best and fairests, before moving to the Maribyrnong Park Football Club for the under-16 season, he then switched sports to basketball. He had a successful career in basketball where he represented Australia at under-19 level and played 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. Smith played his first match of football for the 2016 season in the Victorian Football League (VFL) Development League playing for Melbourne's affiliate team, the Casey Scorpions; after the one match in the development league, he was promoted to the VFL seniors for the fifty-six point win over 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 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 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 Smith subsequently made his debut in the thirty point win against 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 of 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, Smith was accused of trafficking cocaine and is set to face a minimum two-year suspension.

Statistics
Updated to the end of 2023.

! colspan=3 | Career ! 42 !! 12 !! 6 !! 181 !! 132 !! 313 !! 100 !! 97 !! 0.2 !! 0.1 !! 4.3 !! 3.1 !! 7.4 !! 2.4 !! 2.3
 * 2017 || || 44
 * 3 || 0 || 0 || 12 || 14 || 26 || 2 || 8 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 4.0 || 4.7 || 8.7 || 0.7 || 2.7
 * 2018 || || 44
 * 8 || 1 || 2 || 46 || 48 || 94 || 29 || 31 || 0.1 || 0.3 || 5.8 || 6.0 || 11.8 || 3.6 || 3.9
 * 2019 || || 44
 * 0 || – || – || – || – || – || – || – || – || – || – || – || – || – || –
 * 2020 || || 44
 * 7 || 0 || 0 || 23 || 15 || 38 || 9 || 10 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 3.3 || 2.1 || 5.4 || 1.3 || 1.4
 * 2021 || || 44
 * 3 || 0 || 0 || 11 || 9 || 20 || 9 || 4 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 3.7 || 3.0 || 6.7 || 3.0 || 1.3
 * 2022 || || 44
 * 7 || 0 || 0 || 30 || 18 || 48 || 14 || 12 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 4.3 || 2.6 || 6.9 || 2.0 || 1.7
 * 2023 || || 29
 * 14 || 11 || 4 || 59 || 28 || 87 || 37 || 32 || 0.8 || 0.3 || 4.2 || 2.0 || 6.2 || 2.6 || 2.3
 * - class=sortbottom
 * 2022 || || 44
 * 7 || 0 || 0 || 30 || 18 || 48 || 14 || 12 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 4.3 || 2.6 || 6.9 || 2.0 || 1.7
 * 2023 || || 29
 * 14 || 11 || 4 || 59 || 28 || 87 || 37 || 32 || 0.8 || 0.3 || 4.2 || 2.0 || 6.2 || 2.6 || 2.3
 * - class=sortbottom
 * 14 || 11 || 4 || 59 || 28 || 87 || 37 || 32 || 0.8 || 0.3 || 4.2 || 2.0 || 6.2 || 2.6 || 2.3
 * - class=sortbottom
 * }

Notes