Lesson plan
Norm Smith
Norman Walter Smith (21 November 1915 – 29 July 1973) was an Australian rules football player and coach in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After more than 200 games as a player with and , Smith began a twenty-year coaching career, including a fifteen-year stint at Melbourne. A revered figure in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, Smith is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential coaches in the game's history, as well as having been considered by many one of the finest full-forwards of his era. Like legendary Collingwood coach Jock McHale, Smith was seen as able to take young players of different backgrounds and mould them into a disciplined team. Along with his brother Len, Smith's ability to think innovatively when it came to tactics had a profound influence on the game, most notably through his protégé Ron Barassi. Smith played in four premierships with Melbourne and then coached the club to six further premierships in the 1950s and 1960s, but his sensational sacking midway through the 1965 season (when Melbourne were the reigning premiers) gave rise to what is known as the "Curse of Norm Smith". The supposed curse lasted 57 years until Melbourne defeated the Western Bulldogs in the 2021 AFL Grand Final. In 1996, Smith was chosen as the coach of the AFL Team of the Century.
Article summary
Norman Walter Smith (21 November 1915 – 29 July 1973) was an Australian rules football player and coach in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After more than 200 games as a player with and , Smith began a twenty-year coaching career, including a fifteen-year stint at Melbourne. A revered figure in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, Smith is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential coaches in the game's history, as well as having been considered by many one of the finest full-forwards of his era. Like legendary Collingwood coach Jock McHale, Smith was seen as able to take young players of different backgrounds and mould them into a disciplined team. Along with his brother Len, Smith's ability to think innovatively when it came to tactics had a profound influence on the game, most notably through his protégé Ron Barassi. Smith played in four premierships with Melbourne and then coached the club to six further premierships in the 1950s and 1960s, but his sensational sacking midway through the 1965 season (when Melbourne were the reigning premiers) gave rise to what is known as the "Curse of Norm Smith". The supposed curse lasted 57 years until Melbourne defeated the Western Bulldogs in the 2021 AFL Grand Final. In 1996, Smith was chosen as the coach of the AFL Team of the Century.
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.