Imagine a Highlanders team without Aaron Smith.
Imagine the All Blacks without Aaron Smith.
Imagine not being on the edge of your seat while you watch the little fellow with the big grin scooting around the park, yapping at his forwards, making his little darts with ball in hand, and firing out that glorious bullet pass all day long.
That will be our reality next year.
Smith is not a big man but he has left a giant gap in the Otago sporting scene following his decision to join the Toyota club in Japan for the twilight years of his career.
He was an apprentice hairdresser when he came from Manawatu to join the Jamie Joseph revolution at the Highlanders in 2011; he leaves as a master of his halfback craft.
In a record 185 games for his beloved 'Landers and no fewer than 125 tests, the bloke they call "Nugget" gave absolutely everything he had to be the best he could be, and to lift others around him.
You don’t become a revered figure in sport without having something special, and Smith had it all. His passion and his dedication were unrivalled. And he changed the game, proving a small man could not only survive but thrive in the behemoth-dominated world of elite rugby.
It was a rollercoaster of a year for Smith, who turned 35 in November.
He and his whanau were devastated at the death of patriarch Wayne in April. Aaron, from that point, played to honour his dad.
He had a rousing send-off from the Highlanders, jumping for absolute joy — summing up the selflessness of the man — when understudy Folau Fakatava scored a late game-winning try against the Reds in Smith’s last Highlanders game in Dunedin.
"I look back with fond memories, and I look back as a man who came down as a boy, really," Smith told the Otago Daily Times earlier this year.
"I’ve experienced ups and downs — totally more ups than anything in this beautiful city."
He continued his long unchallenged run as the starting halfback for the All Blacks, and seemed more passionate than ever as he led the haka while wielding a hoe (waka paddle).
Not every fairy tale has the perfect ending, and Smith was robbed of a glorious try in the World Cup final by television match official nit-picking.
He walked off the field with moist eyes and a slight smile as it dawned on him his New Zealand rugby career was over.
Farewell, old friend. We will not see your like again.
— Hayden Meikle
