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COMBATIVE teenager Clay Smith is already setting the standard for the Western Bulldogs when it comes to attacking the contest, according to Dogs assistant coach Steven King.
King, who is in charge of the Bulldogs' midfield, has revealed Smith's hardness is regularly highlighted to his teammates.
"We just love his tenacity so much that we show clips of him every week to his peers, showing how ferociously he attacks the ball and the man," he told AFL.com.au.
"For him to already be setting the benchmark for us in that area ... as a first-year player, is a pretty special effort.
"You know what you’re going to get with him. He's a seriously competitive beast. He's certainly got areas to work on, but the things he can do for his age are quite extraordinary."
The 19-year-old - who gathered a career-best 20 touches against Richmond last week after being asked to step up in the midfield following the late withdrawal of Ryan Griffen - said he'd be lying if he said that such compliments didn’t put a smile on his face.
"That's just how I've always played, and that's how I've tried to continue since I got to the club," he said.
"I was a bit standoffish when I first got here but (the coaches) told me, 'If it's a contested drill, it's you against them, so go as hard as you can because they’re going to be.'
"You need to train hard and play hard. That's the standard I set for myself, and it's good that I'm looked at by the group as a hard player because that's what I want to be."
King vividly recalls the exact moment he realised the Bulldogs had snared a potential "midfield bull" with their first pick - No.17 overall - in last year's NAB AFL Draft.
"During pre-season there was a session where I was helping out by just having a little wrestle with players in between their shuttle runs and 400s. With most players you'd grab hold of them and that'd be it, but not Clay. He pretty much tossed me aside like I was a rag doll," said former ruckman King, who boasts a size advantage of 20cm and almost 30kg.
"He's so strong for his size and his age, and he just has a crack every time."
Smith doesn’t remember rag-dolling King. But in his 13 games, he has proven difficult to pin in a tackle. He isn’t elusive in the traditional sense; he just seems to gain energy and strength when someone lays a hand on him, and he generally either breaks free or dishes off a handball.
He has been influenced by his father Ray's rugby league background. But Smith mainly attributes his hardness to the fact he and best mate Shaun Wyatt always played in older age groups, at their own insistence, at their junior club Lucknow (in the Gippsland town of Bairnsdale).
"We learnt pretty early that the only way to get a kick among the bigger kids is to go and get it yourself. Scrapping and fighting for a kick was great for us," he said.
Smith and Wyatt played virtually every junior match together from under-10 level (including their time with TAC Cup club Gippsland Power, which Wyatt captained), and they now live together in Melbourne's west. Wyatt is playing for the Bulldogs' VFL affiliate Williamstown.
Smith said that "bringing a bit of home" with him, in the form of Wyatt, had made his transition to the AFL "heaps easier".
However, he is still trying to improve in areas such as defensive play and kicking - the latter being a perceived weakness.
"My kicking isn't my strongest point, but I don't see it as a weakness," he said. "I do a lot of work on it and it's gotten a lot better this year. It's more about taking the easier option rather than going for the tougher kick that looks bad if you stuff it up."
King agrees that Smith has improved his kicking: "The more he gets himself in a position to pick the right option, he'll become a better kick. Once that happens, he's going to end up an elite player."
Given Smith's no-prisoners style, it's no coincidence that he loves watching other hard nuts like Geelong captain Joel Selwood, Hawthorn skipper Luke Hodge, his own leader Matthew Boyd and, particularly, the Sydney Swans' Kieren Jack "because his dad (Garry) was a rugby player and he was judged hard on his kicking at the start, but he's chipped away and become one of the elite midfielders".
Beware the hungry, aggressive young Dog.
COMBATIVE teenager Clay Smith is already setting the standard for the Western Bulldogs when it comes to attacking the contest, according to Dogs assistant coach Steven King.
King, who is in charge of the Bulldogs' midfield, has revealed Smith's hardness is regularly highlighted to his teammates.
"We just love his tenacity so much that we show clips of him every week to his peers, showing how ferociously he attacks the ball and the man," he told AFL.com.au.
"For him to already be setting the benchmark for us in that area ... as a first-year player, is a pretty special effort.
"You know what you’re going to get with him. He's a seriously competitive beast. He's certainly got areas to work on, but the things he can do for his age are quite extraordinary."
The 19-year-old - who gathered a career-best 20 touches against Richmond last week after being asked to step up in the midfield following the late withdrawal of Ryan Griffen - said he'd be lying if he said that such compliments didn’t put a smile on his face.
"That's just how I've always played, and that's how I've tried to continue since I got to the club," he said.
"I was a bit standoffish when I first got here but (the coaches) told me, 'If it's a contested drill, it's you against them, so go as hard as you can because they’re going to be.'
"You need to train hard and play hard. That's the standard I set for myself, and it's good that I'm looked at by the group as a hard player because that's what I want to be."
King vividly recalls the exact moment he realised the Bulldogs had snared a potential "midfield bull" with their first pick - No.17 overall - in last year's NAB AFL Draft.
"During pre-season there was a session where I was helping out by just having a little wrestle with players in between their shuttle runs and 400s. With most players you'd grab hold of them and that'd be it, but not Clay. He pretty much tossed me aside like I was a rag doll," said former ruckman King, who boasts a size advantage of 20cm and almost 30kg.
"He's so strong for his size and his age, and he just has a crack every time."
Smith doesn’t remember rag-dolling King. But in his 13 games, he has proven difficult to pin in a tackle. He isn’t elusive in the traditional sense; he just seems to gain energy and strength when someone lays a hand on him, and he generally either breaks free or dishes off a handball.
He has been influenced by his father Ray's rugby league background. But Smith mainly attributes his hardness to the fact he and best mate Shaun Wyatt always played in older age groups, at their own insistence, at their junior club Lucknow (in the Gippsland town of Bairnsdale).
"We learnt pretty early that the only way to get a kick among the bigger kids is to go and get it yourself. Scrapping and fighting for a kick was great for us," he said.
Smith and Wyatt played virtually every junior match together from under-10 level (including their time with TAC Cup club Gippsland Power, which Wyatt captained), and they now live together in Melbourne's west. Wyatt is playing for the Bulldogs' VFL affiliate Williamstown.
Smith said that "bringing a bit of home" with him, in the form of Wyatt, had made his transition to the AFL "heaps easier".
However, he is still trying to improve in areas such as defensive play and kicking - the latter being a perceived weakness.
"My kicking isn't my strongest point, but I don't see it as a weakness," he said. "I do a lot of work on it and it's gotten a lot better this year. It's more about taking the easier option rather than going for the tougher kick that looks bad if you stuff it up."
King agrees that Smith has improved his kicking: "The more he gets himself in a position to pick the right option, he'll become a better kick. Once that happens, he's going to end up an elite player."
Given Smith's no-prisoners style, it's no coincidence that he loves watching other hard nuts like Geelong captain Joel Selwood, Hawthorn skipper Luke Hodge, his own leader Matthew Boyd and, particularly, the Sydney Swans' Kieren Jack "because his dad (Garry) was a rugby player and he was judged hard on his kicking at the start, but he's chipped away and become one of the elite midfielders".
Beware the hungry, aggressive young Dog.
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