Smith became a fans' favourite in his debut season in 2008

Kozza Smith is planning to rest after admitting he made his King's Lynn Stars comeback a bit too early last Thursday.

The Australian crashed while riding for Ipswich the previous Monday, and told BBC Radio Norfolk he was premature to declare himself fit against Redcar.

"Yeah, I think I came back a bit too soon, it was a pretty big fall on Monday night," he conceded.

"Thursday proved I wasn't fit enough so I'll take a couple of weeks off and try to come back 100% fit," he said.

It is the second time this season that Smith has crashed while on duty for the Witches, scuppering his plans for parent club King's Lynn.

But he admitted that the lure of representing Australia may have led him to come back a bit too early.

"I was supposed to represent my country this weekend in the under-21 team cup but I had to pull out of that," he said.

"It's a shame, but it's my last year in the under-21s and that might be a reason I came back too soon. I was desperate to come back for that but it didn't happen."

Speaking during Friday's home meeting against Redcar in the Premier league, a 57-38 win for the Stars, Smith admitted that he was getting a touch frustrated at sitting on the sidelines.

"The team's on fire at the moment, I just want to get out there, score some points and be part of it again, but the boys are doing alright without me," he said.

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