AFL trade period: Every key move from deadline day, how did Bailey Smith get to Geelong?

Bailey Smith was left to wait until the last minute of the trade period as a host of key deals unfolded in a frantic final 30 minutes. Those closest to the Smith deal reveal how it went down.

Geelong didn’t want to force him through the national draft, but Bailey Smith was headed there anyway before a last gasp four-club deal averted a trade disaster for the Western Bulldogs.

Smith was the biggest name tagged to move from the very start of the trade period, but did not land at his new home until a hectic flurry in the final five minutes as the Bulldogs eventually caved in to the Cats’ hardline stance.

The inclusion of Carlton on-baller Matthew Kennedy helped grease the wheels for the mega deal as Geelong’s pick 38 was sent to the Blues, while Jack Macrae made it to St Kilda in exchange for pick 45 – a selection which ended back in the Cats’ hands.

Negotiations were tense between the Cats, Dogs and Smith’s agent Paul Connors, but Geelong list boss Andrew Mackie said it had always been his club’s intention to pay a fair price for the 23-year-old.

Can’t wait to see what Bailey can do in the Hoops 🤩 #WeAreGeelongpic.twitter.com/fliwic9HqW

— Geelong Cats (@GeelongCats) October 16, 2024

“We don’t have the intention to sit out and walk players through to the pre-season draft or national draft,” Mackie told reporters after the deal was struck.

“I was always confident that we’d get there, and our intention was to make sure that the Bulldogs did receive compensation for Bailey.

“I think the Bulldogs had a fair bit going on. If you’re in that position, and we did the same with Esava (Ratugolea) last year – you wait, and use the time to put a bit of pressure on to see what spits out, what clubs are willing to give up.”

As well as Smith and Macrae, the Bulldogs bid farewell to Caleb Daniel, who joined North Melbourne in exchange for pick 25.

Bulldogs list manager Sam Power wished Macrae and Daniel – but not Smith – the “best of luck”, as he said the club had “exhausted all avenues” trying to extract a higher draft pick from Geelong.

“At the end of the day, that’s all we can do. We thought we could’ve potentially added to the deal or provided some different options, and in the end you just sort of run out of time,” Power said.

“No. 17 is still a really good pick, in this draft in particular, it’s a strong draft. We were able to get a little bit of a pick swap on top of that, which helped us with part of that four-way deal to get Matt Kennedy in as well – it was a positive result.”

It meant the Blues received strong compensation for Kennedy, who they had told to look for a new home early in the trade period in a bid for salary cap relief.

The four-team mega trade that saved the #AFLTrade period!

LIVE 👉https://t.co/OtXIlFdSuSpic.twitter.com/gP31IbsAj4

— SuperFooty (AFL) (@superfooty) October 16, 2024

Contracted defender Lewis Young remained though, as did Brodie Kemp, who decided against pushing for a move to St Kilda.

North Melbourne finished the trade period with a new quartet of AFL-listed players after adding Sydney small forward Jacob Konstanty into its deal to acquire former captain Luke Parker.

Kangaroos list boss Brady Rawlings said the uncapped 19-year-old addressed a key need for a pressure forward as his inclusion in the deal paved the way for the Roos to give up the no. 44 pick which Sydney had requested.

“We’ve been in discussions with (Konstanty’s) manager all year, really. With Jacob, I think we had him in the mid-teens in his draft year on our draft board, so we’ve followed him really closely,” Rawlings said.

“It’s been a position we’ve been looking at for some time, and he did have an injury towards the end of the year.

“We thought ‘let’s bring him in now, he’s got a (foot) injury, we’ll start treating him and getting him ready for pre-season’.”

Originally published as AFL trade period: Every key move from deadline day, how did Bailey Smith get to Geelong?