{xtypo_dropcap}T{/xtypo_dropcap}he first clash of the 1989 WAFL finals series became a promoters dream, when East Fremantle and West Perth fought out a thrilling draw in the first semi final.

The replay was re scheduled as a curtain raiser for the second semi final between Claremont and South Fremantle the following week, and a thirty thousand plus crowd flocked to Subiaco Oval to see the blue and whites prevail by forty three points.

The Sharks were unable to repeat the performance against a dominating Tigers outfit, who went on to  an emphatic grand final victory over South.

One of the stars of the finals was half forward flanker Neil Lester-Smith, who booted eleven goals over the three games, adding to his home and away season tally of seventy nine, which made him the league’s leading goalkicker, an honour almost exclusively the domain of full forwards.

In doing so, Lester-Smith had emulated rover Kevin Taylor, who booted a hundred and two majors a decade earlier for East Fremantle. 

Lester-Smith was a classy will o the wisp forward, with a penchant for kicking a goal from anywhere within range of the tall timbers. When on song he was almost impossible to match up on, a favourite with East supporters, a thorn in the side of the opposition, and to suggest that the slightly built five foot ten sharpshooter loved a goal was an under-statement.

“I was out there to kick goals,” he said. “If I didn’t, I’d be out of the side.”

Neil’s hundred and fifty four league appearances spanned a decade, and his career tally of three hundred and eighty nine majors represented an average of more than a couple per game. Like most successful small forwards, he was the bane of opposition supporters, and he knew it. It was during a finals encounter with the arch enemy, South Fremantle, when the red and white supporters were in full cry, that the ball was kicked out of bounds on the full by a South player, landing at the feet of a Bulldog official, who refused to pick it up.

Lester-Smith reached out for the red and white club tie on the official’s lapel, slowly and purposefully wiped the perspiration off his brow, and continued as if nothing untoward had taken place.

Neil Lester-Smith followed elder brother Rod into the East Fremantle side.

Tall, pacy, and strong overhead, Rod Lester-Smith was a fine player with East Fremantle and Western Australia over six seasons before becoming a strong defender with Hawthorn, where he spent four seasons, and ended a meritorious AFL career at Brisbane. He coached East Fremantle in 2003 and 2004.

Neil and Rod’s father, Murray, played a couple of league games with Perth, and it was the Demons that Neil grew up supporting, but residing in Brentwood tied him to East Fremantle. A centreman in his junior days, he became part of Rex Townsend’s colts side of 1981. Given an opportunity in the Emu Export pre season competition in 1983, Lester-Smith impressed coach Ron Alexander enough to clinch a run in the first game of the season.  In and out of the side for the first few seasons, he was unfortunate to miss out on a place in the 1985 premiership line up. Injuries to an ankle, groin, and ligaments were early impediments to his career.

The appointment of Graeme Melrose as coach in 1987 coincided with Neil Lester-Smith’s improvement and transformation into a dangerous and consistent goalkicking forward. He began to kick bags of goals on a regular basis, and was soon under the interstate spotlight, with South Australian club, Norwood, offering him a guernsey. “I’d just started a new business, and never really considered a move,” he recalled.

The evolvement of the AFL had temporarily halted interstate football, and it was unfortunate for Lester-Smith that there were  no State representative opportunities in 1989, because he was without doubt the leading small forward in the local competition at the time.

Neil Lester-Smith played a dual role in the memorable against the odds win over old arch rivals, South Fremantle, in the 1992 grand final. A half forward flanker with the breeze, coach Ken Judge used him as a loose man in defence when kicking into the wind in the first and third quarters.

The two sides had played each other on four occasions over the season, with the Bulldogs holding sway each time, but a brilliant performance from veteran Clinton Browning fired the blue and whites to a twenty four point victory.

Lester-Smith’s work around the packs took it’s toll over the years, with injury dogging him early in his league career, and a hit to the groin in 1993 saw him out of action for four months. “I considered retiring in 1992, but the setback a year later was the clincher,” he said.

It wasn’t the end of Neil Lester-Smith on the WAFL scene, though.

A phone call from 990am’s Russell Dower heralded the beginning of a new direction, as a special comments man for the station’s football broadcasts, a job he did with aplomb for three years.

It wasn’t the end of his playing days, either.

“Three years after finishing with East, I was asked to take the Forrestfield Amateurs for a night,” Neil said. “They said: “you might as well have a run with us,” I did, and we won a premiership the following year.”

Lester-Smith has been involved with East Fremantle as an assistant coach over recent years, and his work at Willeton Juniors, where he mentored over a long period, has been rewarded with life membership and a “legend” tag. Son Ryan is playing reserves with the Sharks and daughter Rachael is a netballer.

Neil and Rod Lester-Smith never actually played a league game together, but are partners these days in business, at Battery World O’Connor. 

If you're looking for Automotive Battery Equipment, then Battery World O'Connor can definitely help you. Offering a varied range of products and services like battery and including battery hardware and battery chargers they can be contacted on (08) 9331 4572 to discuss these or any additional services or products. Drop in for a yarn about footy. Neil also works with the John Hughes Group.

Cliff Collard(South Fremantle), Paul Hasler(West Perth), and George Giannakis(East Perth) were three opponents Lester-Smith found hard to shake. “I upset George one day, when his boot came off after a kicking attempt. I grabbed the thing and chucked it into the crowd. It was on for young and old then.”

Neil Lester-Smith was an outstanding player for East Fremantle in the eighties and early nineties.

It’s perhaps fitting that he has progressed into the battery business. Transferring the trademark Lester-Smith explosiveness from a tackle or the unerring kick for goal into an energy cell is a tantalising thought.