Chris Scott says Geelong star Bailey Smith did all the talking in meeting with AFL boss Andrew Dillon about behaviour

News.com.au

19 hours ago

Geelong coach Chris Scott is confident star recruit Bailey Smith's 'low-key' meeting with AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon about his on and off-field behaviour won't curtail the brilliant start to his Cats career, adamant the Brownlow Medal fancy 'did most of the talking'.
Smith, who will return for the Cats against Essendon on Saturday after a brief injury lay-off, was part of a meeting with Dillon, Scott, Geelong football boss Andrew Mackie and chief executive Steve Hocking at his Surf Coast property last Thursday.
It came after Smith put himself in the spotlight when he alluded to recreational drug use on social media, having already twice been fined for an inappropriate gesture towards opposition fans.
Smith, who crossed to Geelong from the Western Bulldogs, also became embroiled in a verbal stoush with his former club after playing in front of a packed MCG and declaring 'you don't get that at Ballarat' after a crowd below 10,000 attended a Dogs game in the regional centre.
But Scott was loathe to 'overplay the importance of it' and Smith was even 'keen' to have the face-to-face meeting after Dillon had addressed the issues publicly on occasion.
'It was a very casual and low-key catch-up, as much as can be between peers when you've got a 23 or 24-year-old with the CEO of the Cats and the CEO of the AFL,' Scott said on Friday.
'I'm loathe to say too much because I don't want to speak on behalf of Andrew Dillon, but as a club we certainly appreciated the fact that he reached out.
'The takeaways would have been Bailey has a really good feel that he's got a lot of people supporting him.
'I think he recognised better post that meeting how much the AFL value what he can bring to the game and by extension to the AFL themselves.
'I don't think he's ever had any trouble with this, but it has been reinforced, the responsibility that he has to the game as well. Those things kind of go hand-in-glove.
'The more I talk about it, the more I get concerned that I give the impression that it was three or four people speaking at Bailey. It wasn't like that at all.'
Scott said Smith, who has the support of the club and his teammates to continue to show his character, was in no way taken aback by the meeting and would continue to show his character.
'He actually did most of the talking – which is not unusual,' Scott said.
'It's been good fun to have him around the place. Players love him. Staff love him.
'We're on our toes, aren't we? '
'It's exciting, but we've said for a long time we don't have any intention of trying to fill our list with the same sort of person. He is unique but in the most positive sense of the word.'
Scott will notch a significant milestone on Saturday, coaching against his brother Brad, with the twins notching up a combined 1000 games as players and coaches.