The Castlemaine recruit was involved in a controversial incident in St Kilda's round 17 encounter with Melbourne.
[3] In the dying seconds, a pass from Horrie Mason had found Smedley, who played on and was running into an open goals when the bell rang.
[3] The umpire however had failed to hear it and only after Smedley had kicked the goal, which put his team one point up, did the game end.
[3] Melbourne unsuccessfully appealed the result but the win wasn't enough to put St Kilda into the finals as they missed out through percentage.
During the 1929 season Smedley transferred to Prahran and then, in 1930, Smedley was appointed as Captain / Coach of the Corowa Football Club in the Ovens and Murray Football League,[4] before being cleared back to Prahran in April 1931.