If Clay Smith never played another game after the 2016 preliminary final, his place in Bulldogs, nay AFL, history was secure.

That performance, that day, with all that was going on in his personal life, was one of our games’ finest and most inspiring moments.

Smith went into that game having lost one of his best friends, Dale Walkinshaw, on September 29.  They were close; Smith has Dale’s initials tattooed on his behind after a lost bet, and he was in tears putting on the black armband pre-match.

Which made what came next so extraordinary. 

Everyone with even a cursory interest in football remembers that game.  It was enormous.  Every player on the ground was playing the biggest game of their lives.

And Smith rose to the moment, kicking the first goal of game, one of four for the half.  He took the handball from Easton Wood off of half back and then ran, and ran and ran to get it back from Zaine Cordy, finishing with the goal. 

The stadium, flushed with the travelling red, white and blue army, erupted.

These things don’t happen by chance and it set the tone for the rest of the day.  No one epitomised the Bulldog spirit of that 2016 run like Clay Smith.

And now it’s over.  After 55 games and 43 goals for the Club since being taken with the 17^th pick of the 2011 National Draft, Smith will hang up the boots having left a mark on the Club that will endure like few others.

Of course, you can’t talk about Clay Smith without talking about the knee injuries.  All three of them.  But that’s only half the story.  The fight, the courage and the dedication to get back after each them, that’s what really matters.

It’s difficult to watch highlights of his first game against West Coast without a tinge of sadness. Everything that he would become was on display in that game, the grunt, the flair and of course that unorthodox left boot.

The second was something special.  He puts his head over the ball, plucks it out of the way of a charging Beau Waters, blind turns and slots it through. 

He even allowed himself a little smile afterwards. It was Smith in a nutshell, courageous and joyous all in the same moment.

In the end, the knee injuries were too much and he played his final AFL game at the Gabba in Round 20, last season.  It was not the ideal send off for a Bulldogs hero, but as Smith would know better than most, things don’t always go to plan.  

But he will walk away knowing he gave his everything, and as a premiership player, with lifelong friends and spot in the heart of Bulldogs fans everywhere, he can walk away a proud man.

Go well, Clay.  Thanks for everything.