Bailey Smith’s antics divide fans | opinion

Is he a breath of fresh air or disrupting what has long been an elite force of veteran players. Two footy fans share their views on Bailey Smith.

Love him or loathe him, Bailey Smith is a supreme player. But is his “flair” changing the Cats for the better or the worse?

Two footy fans share their views.

Scroll down to decide which one was more convincing.

Will Keech

Geelong Advertiser reporter

For far too long have the Cats been dubbed too old, too slow, when really what footy fans should be lamenting is the fact they are, at times, simply boring.

In recent times, the faces of the club have been the likes of Selwood, Hawkins, Dangerfield et cetera.

Brilliant? Sure. Boring? Absolutely.

As our region begins to shake off its reputation as a mere backwater of Melbourne, so too should our footy club prove it isn’t a snoozefest.

And we’ve just been handed Bailey Smith on a platter, so why are we looking a gift horse in the mouth?

He’s a must watch, the most marketable player in the comp, and, like his aforementioned predecessors, brilliant.

You just have to look at last week’s match.

Bailey Smith had fans riled up.

The only discourse that hung around 24-hours on from the Easter Monday game was what our mulleted man did, because the actual game play was, frankly, a little boring.

Giving the bird has pearl-clutchers crying “what about the children,” but you’re kidding yourself if you don’t think kids are being exposed to worse through their phones.

Then there was the Jarman Impey incident.

Chucking a ball into someone’s head isn’t ideal behaviour by any means, but you only had to watch Conor Nash’s incident in the same game to see how tame it was in the scheme of things.

Before he arrived at the Cattery, Smith was dubbed a bad boy by some, including myself, a badge that was probably unfair.

His headbutt on Zach Tuohy was a brain fade, but a lot of AFL players, and people in general, have had them.

Then there was his white powder incident.

It’s easy to get on a high horse and judge a 20-year-old who has openly struggled with mental health for using drugs, but you’ve got your head in the sand if you reckon a vast majority of people in that age demographic haven’t experimented with drugs at some stage.

If you want to judge Smith for anything to do with that situation, judge his stupidity, something I think we’re guilty of every so often.

The breath of fresh air that is Bazlenka was fully on show the day after his double bird against the Crows in Gather Round.

Confronted by media on his morning coffee run, he spoke candidly, owned his actions, admitted he was probably wrong for doing it, but stood strong in standing up for his teammates in his own unique way.

We cry out for individuals in this game, until we get them.

Smith isn’t a saint, but he’s a Cat, he’s one of us, and he deserves to be embraced by his new community, warts and all.

Ryan Bourke

Geelong Advertiser reporter

Bailey Smith likes to cause a scene, and there’s no point pretending we don’t like to watch.

From fans who cheer when he slams a ball into Jarman Impey’s head, to those who whinge when he flips off a Crows fan, the passion that Smith ignites is undeniable.

Smith’s skills make him an asset to the game, but it’s his antics that make him an asset to the culture, and by extension the commercial viability of the game to a new generation of spectators who live for the drama.

But what happens when the thing that makes him an asset clashes directly with one of our club’s key values? While drama, theatre, and big personalities are an increasingly important part of what makes this game special, the Cats had resisted this shift in a way that’s paid massive dividends for their brand.

Bailey Smith flips the bird at crowd.

Growing up in Perth, I saw first-hand how the Dockers slowly but surely became the Nat Fyfe show. Just last year, history repeated itself at the West Coast Eagles, the mention of which now brings the image of only one person, Harley Reid, to the front of punters’ minds.

So where others saw the Cats as “too old” and “too slow”, I, like many other fans, saw something different; an elite force of veteran players who worked best as a single unit.

Skill over scandal – that was the playbook when we won the flag in 2022. In 2025, it’s clear our club is evolving.

Veterans like Tom Hawkins will continue to hang up their boots, and young, talented replacements will need time to adjust to the immense pressure of the AFL Spotlight, which has only intensified with our thirst for off-field drama and scandal.

In this crucial period, growing pains are inevitable.

A new generation of players is bound to carry on, slip up, throw tantrums, and break the rules.

Geelong knew Smith’s brand when they recruited him.

Our club plays better because of him, and as far as scandals go, he may be the least of their worries.

But when post-match commentary centres solely on Smith’s antics, I do find myself missing the days when the only thing they had to talk about was our team’s performance, and our biggest scandal was a cow running off with Jeremy Cameron’s premiership medal.

Will Keech and Ryan Bourke are journalists with the Geelong Advertiser

Originally published as Bailey Smith’s antics divide fans | opinion