For about 10 days in November/December 2006, Nick Smith was a shattered young man.

His misery started on Friday, 26 November, when 16 AFL clubs selected no less than 81 first-time draftees in the National Draft and he was not one of them.

It wasn’t a complete surprise to the football world because Smith had not been picked in the AFL Phantom Draft 24 hours earlier, but that didn’t make things any better for the demeanour of the young man from Melbourne’s Scotch College.

He’d seen Bryce Gibbs go to Carlton with selection #1, Scott Gumbleton go to Essendon at #2, Lachie Hansen to West Coast at #3 and Matthew Leuenberger to Brisbane at #4. Then Travis Boak (Port Adelaide), Mitch Thorp (Hawthorn), Joel Selwood (Geelong), Ben Reid (Collingwood), David Armitage (St Kilda) and Nathan Brown (Collingwood) completed the top 10.

He saw Sydney take four players : Daniel O’Keefe at #15, Daniel Currie at #49, Peter Faulks at #65 and Jesse White at #75.

And he saw his Oakleigh Chargers teammates Todd Goldstein (North Melbourne), David Mackay (Adelaide) and Robbie Gray (Port Adelaide) get picked up at #37, #48 and #5.

Then when former Richmond player David Rodan was thrown a career lifeline by Port Adelaide with the 86^th and last pick in the draft, Smith remained without a club.

He waited. There was nothing else to do. It was about 10 days later before the before the AFL recruiting fraternity assembled again via a phone hook-up.

First, there was the now defunct Pre-Season Draft. Only nine picks in total, and only two first-time draftees. Nothing special. But still no Smith.

This was a young man of the highest calibre. He had been captain of the Scotch College football team that included a young Cyril Rioili, who would be drafted 12 months later. Surely he was worth a punt? But time was running out.

Shortly after the Pre-Season Draft it was time for the Rookie Draft. Selection #1 was Sam Jacobs to Carlton. Clint Jones went to St Kilda at #9 and Sharrod Wellingham went to Collingwood at #10. By the time North Adelaide defender Andrew McIntyre, who would never play an AFL game, was picked up by Adelaide at #14 a dozen more first-time draftees had gone. Still no Smith.

But with selection #15 in the 2007 Rookie Draft, the Swans put Smith out of his misery.

Swans recruiting chief Kinnear Beatson remembers it well because Smith was the first player he drafted to Sydney to begin what has been a long and decorated career with the club.

Beatson, a long-time servant with the Brisbane Bears/Lions after starting his career at Carlton, had worked as a consultant with the Adelaide Crows through 2006, right up to the National Draft, but he was released at that point and joined Sydney before the Rookie Draft. 

Beatson had seen Smith play on the opposite wing to Mackay for the Oakleigh Chargers in their TAC Cup grand final win over the Calder Cannons. Mackay was a classy outside running player who, ironically, had been drafted to where Beatson was at the Crows.

But Smith, too, had made a positive impression on the master recruiter. And, having traded his Crows gear for Swans gear, Beatson was delighted to plug in the name ‘Nick Smith’ via the digital hook-up.

“Nick had the same run and carry as Mackay, a left footer who kicked it well, and having met him you just knew he had substance and resilience. That’s always a good sign – and you knew he was going to give you everything he had,” Beatson explained.

As football folklore has it, Smith was stunned when coach Paul Roos rang immediately to welcome him to the club. He had been linked to North Melbourne, and hadn’t contemplated a move to the Harbour City. He hadn’t even shared the news with his parents.

It wasn’t what he expected, and truth be known it probably wasn’t what he wanted if there was an option in Melbourne, but for 13 years and 211 games Smith repaid the club in pure gold before announcing his retirement on August 14.

A man who shares his name with national politicians in Britain, the United States and New Zealand, plus a Home and Away actor, a Florida Panthers NHL player and a champion British canoeist, was drafted with a limited but significant football pedigree.

His father Malcolm had played one game for St Kilda in 1982. It was Round 22, the last game of the year, and he had nine disposals and kicked a behind in an 88-point loss to Hawthorn at Princes Park.

More significantly, it was Alex Jesaulenko’s last game as coach of St Kilda, and Gary Ablett Sr’s sixth and last game for Hawthorn before he joined Geelong in 1984.

When Nick Smith was drafted by Sydney 24 years after Malcolm Smith had made his fleeting AFL appearance at St Kilda, he joined a club which had lost the 2006 grand final to West Coast after beating West Coast in the 2005 grand final.

It was never going to be easy for an unheralded rookie to break into the side, and it took him until Round 5, 2008 to do so. It was against Geelong at Kardinia Park in a game in which only five other players still active in the AFL in 2019 were involved: Swans teammates Kieren Jack and Jarrad McVeigh, and Cats Gary Ablett, Joel Selwood and Tom Hawkins.

But Smith quickly convinced insiders he had what it took to be successful, as he set about adding to what has been a remarkable list of rookie success stories.

Just how good the rookie draft has been to Sydney is evidenced by the fact that Smith, with 211 games behind him, sits only fourth among 10 players to have reached more than 100 games after starting on the rookie list. Ahead of Smith on that list are Heath Grundy (256 games), Kieren Jack (254) and Brett Kirk (241), while Tadhg Kennelly (197), Dane Rampe (157), Jake Lloyd (135), Paul Bevan (129), Harry Cunningham (113) and Mike Pyke (110) round out the 10.

The 32^nd 200-game player among what is now 1424 Swans players, Smith retires sitting 29^th on the club’s all-time games list.

He has been a player grossly undervalued by statistics throughout his career and was best described by coach John Longmire as “the epitome of what the Bloods are about”.

Still, even the numbers cannot deny the huge contribution of a player admired and respected throughout his time at the Swans. In short, they include:

• After playing two, 11 and 16 games in 2008, ’09 and ‘10, Smith had eight consecutive years of 20+ games from 2011-18: 23-22-24-23-21-25-24-20. And from Round 1, 2011 until he ripped his hamstring off the bone in the closing seconds of what turned out to be his last game in Round 21, 2018 he played 182 of a possible 193 games through a golden era for Sydney, including three grand finals and the 2012 premiership.
  
  
• He played 20 finals and was a finals participant eight years in a row from 2010-17.

• He won All-Australian selection in 2014.

• He was top 10 in the Bob Skilton Medal six years in a row from 2011, finishing 6^th-6^th-9^th-8^th-10^th-9^th.
  
  
• He had a total of 2985 AFL possessions, averaging 14.15, with a career-high of 25. Three times he reached this mark – twice in finals.
  
  
• He kicked his first goal in his second game, had eight goals in 36 games and kicked two goals in his last 175 games as he stamped himself as one of the premier small defenders in the competition.

• And, having played his entire career in jumper #40, Smith played more games in jumper #40 in AFL history than everyone else except ex-Geelong captain Ian Nankervis (325).