Smith one of travelling players awaiting AFL Riverina call

After missing most of last season with a serious shoulder injury, the Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes midfielder feared he wouldn't play for 20 months as the coronavirus pandemic threatened to curtail the season.

Not only that, the 21-year-old is based in Albury and initially resigned himself to being sidelined for 2020 after AFL Riverina initially recommended players from the Border region not participated.

That recommendation was lifted after round one, but Smith had to bide his time for another fortnight as Goannas coach Jeremy Rowe kept the faith in his incumbent players.

After making his club debut in Saturday's home loss to Wagga Tigers, is AFL Riverina reviewing travel restrictions again after NSW Health recommended players don't travel from outside regions, although it is unknown as yet whether Border players will be affected.

But for now, Smith, who signed to play for Ovens and Murray side North Albury this year before the league was cancelled, was simply relieved to get a feel for the Sherrin again.

"It almost became a bit foreign, but it was good. I feel like a little kid again really," he said.

"I've been out for a while and it's been a roller coaster of events, coming down and not being able to play footy and now we are playing.

"I knew I had to have a big pre-season (after my shoulder injury), come back and make a statement, but obviously pre-season dragged on a lot longer than expected."

Smith said he had no issue waiting in the wings for a crack in the AFL Riverina Championship.

"It's been a challenge and it's kept me on my toes, that's for sure. But nothing's normal about this, there's bigger issues at hand and being able to play footy is a bit of a perk," he said.

"I didn't want to come in and take a local boy's spot if I'm going back and playing in the O and M next year. I was totally comfortable not playing last week based on (player) points."

The big-bodied midfielder said he was reasonably happy with his first game in about 14 months.

"For my first game back I wasn't expecting much, a lot of time when I had the ball I was dump kicking it and there's things I'll work on during the week," he said.

"I've always got things I'm working on and if I can get it in a contest and come out of it, that's the key thing I'll take away."

Smith said MCUE have to come into games with the belief they can beat the best after the Tigers loss sent them back to the chasing pack with a 2-2 record.

The Tigers' pressure proved too much for the Goannas as they set the tone early.

"We shouldn't go back on our heels just because they (Tigers) also had additions, we're a bloody good side," he said.

"We just need to have confidence in ourselves and have a couple of cool heads. Those first few minutes they were very hot and we needed to slow it down and get it on our terms, but we didn't execute that very well."

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