AFL round 6 Geelong v Hawthorn: Bailey Smith shines in Cats’ thrilling Easter Monday win

Bailey Smith went to Geelong to escape the spotlight. But in his first MCG marquee clash, Cats and Hawks fans were treated to the whole package in a game that will long be remembered.

Bailey Smith went to Geelong to escape the spotlight.

But in his first marquee match at the MCG and in front of his biggest crowd, the star Geelong playmaker found himself squarely on centre stage and playing to the masses.

As two traditional rivals squared off in the most competitive Easter Monday clash in recent years, it was the Cats’ newest leading man who went off-script in a move that could yet see him under match review scrutiny.

In a 10-minute period that had about as much theatre as Broadway or London’s West End, Smith – in his first Easter Monday clash for the Cats – went from brain fade on one side of the ground to boos on the other.

In a bizarre second quarter moment, Smith appeared to gather the ball in front of the Shane Warne stand and shove it into the head of Hawthorn opponent Jarman Impey for the cost of a free kick, prompting talk he could be done for striking.

“That was silly from Bailey,” Richmond great Matthew Richardson said on 3AW.

“He didn’t need to do that.”

Match review officer Michael Christian will consider that on Tuesday.

And while the football itself was Hollywood blockbuster in itself, the pantomime continued between Smith – the newest bad guy for Hawthorn fans, who booed him all the way to the bench on the members’ wing.

Smith conceded on Fox Footy post-game that the Impey incident was “not a good act” but said he relished the drama of it all.

“It was a bit of carry-on, I know. I shouldn’t have done that,” he said.

“It’s Easter Monday, I was fired up ... I’ll get hit, cop it. It’s all in the spirit in the game.”

The childhood Hawks supporter said he’d watched plenty of Easter Mondays - “through the Kennett curse” - but said it was nice to be on the other side of things on Monday.

“A good experience for the first hitout,” Smith said.

“Hawks are a bloody good side so it was good to hang on for a bit.”

Smith said combining with Holmes and Atkins in the midfield had freed up “ModraField” - Dangerfield - to do his thing up forward.

But while that moment had everyone talking it was Smith’s football that was the headline act despite his off-field reception.

Bailey Smith was everywhere on Easter Monday. Picture: Michael Klein

Twice he cupped his ear for more from the masses, with a finger gesture and a yell to those in brown and gold that followed to the bellows of the crowd who kept their voice for when Smith found the ball for the remainder of the day, just a week after he was fined a pretty $1000 for an obscene gesture to a member of the Adelaide crowd in response to abuse directed at his skipper.

He was quiet in the third quarter as the game hung in the balance - there’s no denying that. But he finished the day with 27 disposals, more than 500 metres gained and a lot of new enemies.

It’s days like Easter Monday that shape heroes and villains, with Smith firmly in the latter category for the Hawks as he played to the crowd and the ball with flair on one of football’s biggest stages.

“Great theatre in it all,” former Adelaide senior coach Brenton Sanderson said on SEN.

“He plays on the edge, doesn’t he? Great passion.”

Post-game, Geelong coach Chris Scott said he would only continue to savour Smith’s edge. “He came off the ground and the crowd’s into him ... I don’t buy into that stuff that much, but my suggestion is that the crowd loved it, the AFL loved it, and I reckon Bailey loves it as well. If the suggestion is that we should try to make him boring and vanilla, we’ll rail against that.”

“We don’t condone (the free kick), but we’re much more interested in a pattern, so even the fact I’ve spoken about it too much probably gives it too much air time. But we get that he’s high profile, and I wouldn’t necessarily coach anyone to behave exactly the way Bailey does - that he kind of is what he is, and our job is to sort of shape him.

“We knew that he was going to come in is going to be a bit different to players that we’ve kind of had in our system before, but we made a commitment to embrace it, and kind of help. He’s 24 by the way, he’s going to evolve.”

While Geelong led for the entirety of the day, the game sat firmly on an edge all afternoon as Hokball struggled to find its groove before getting into gear and putting it to the Cats, particularly in the midfield.

Shaun Mannagh kicked the winner in an epic. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Conor Nash sat with Smith at stoppages as the Cats’ next generation midfield of Smith, Max Holmes and Tom Atkins took the leading lines while skipper Patrick Dangerfield sat firmly forward in yet another star showing in his newest role with three goals and a game-saving tackle in the dying minutes.

Like so many episodes of this gripping series that have gone before, it was all about moments in front of a record 88,746 for these two teams and Geelong in a home and away game.

Ollie Dempsey goals and Jai Newcombe flicking handpasses and James Sicily bobbing up when it mattered with the game in the balance before Shaun Mannagh nailed his line with a goal at the death.

As sure as finding tiny bits of foil throughout the house on Easter Monday, so is this famous contest – even with its newest cast members, like Smith, who with his right fist in the air on the siren so quickly become a major plot line in one of football’s best storyline days.

Originally published as AFL round 6 Geelong v Hawthorn: Bailey Smith shines in Cats’ thrilling Easter Monday win