Geelong teammates support Bailey Smith amid mammoth betting plunge

News.com.au

10 hours ago

Bailey Smith has earned widespread praise from his teammates after another starring role in Geelong's 95-point thrashing of Essendon on Saturday night.
Smith has been in the spotlight ever since his high profile move from the Western Bulldogs, fined for some on-field gestures and drawing concern over a 'nose beers' social media post.
It all led to the extraordinary move of a face-to-face meeting with AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon during the week.
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After that chat, and a week off for a hamstring issue, the blond midfielder returned with 41 disposals, six clearances and 760 metres gained in the Cats' 23.13 (151) to 8.8 (56) annihilation of the Bombers at the MCG.
After the game, Cats spearhead Jeremy Cameron – who booted six goals for the night – was asked on Fox Footy how Smith handled 'being most talked about player in the game'.
'I think he handles it pretty well, doesn't he?' Cameron replied.
'He's got a good spot there at home when he gets away and when he's at the football club, what he's done for us as players has been absolutely amazing.
'We've got his back right through whatever it is during the week. We'll always have his back and back him in to do what he does.
'He's brilliant out here on the field, but inside the locker room he's even better, which is hard to believe but it's true.
'We look forward to seeing what he can do in the back half of the year.'
Smith and his new midfield teammate Max Holmes are forming a devastating partnership around the ground, with the latter contributing 36 possessions, eight clearances and 871 metres gained of his own.
Fox Footy were keen to push the 'Dash brothers' tag on the emerging duo and Holmes had a cheeky dig at Smith when asked about him post-match.
'I shook my head because he came off with 39 (disposals) and he wasn't supposed to go back on,' Holmes said.
'Clearly he was thinking about my 40 last week, so he wanted to out do me. Little so and so there.
'He cops it in the media and pretty unfairly a lot of the time.
'It's great to see him just shut out the noise on game day and play good footy.
'With Bailey in the side hopefully we're a better team than last year.'
During the week, Dillon reiterated to Smith his importance as a role model after some of his recent acts had overstepped the mark.
But his coach Chris Scott felt like it should be viewed in a positive light and nothing to generate negative talk.
'I don't think (Smith) felt like there was focus on him,' Scott said.
'I understand that there were questions around it, but I thought it was more the interest in something that's a bit unusual, like a conversation around the fire that didn't really light very well.
'It's rare for an AFL CEO to do that with a young player.
'We appreciated it, it was a step in the right direction, but maybe I misread it and I don't follow much of that stuff, but I didn't feel like it was a negative that would've put pressure on him.
'If there's a bit of a sense that there's some controversy in a negative sense towards him, I don't think we're feeling it, or I'm not seeing it anyway, but sometimes coaches are the last to know.'
As is always the case with the 24-year-old Smith, he drew a wide range of comments online after his latest impressive display on the field.
One tweet declared: 'Bailey Smith is gonna win the Brownlow isn't he.'
Another said: 'Bailey Smith is easily the best player in the league right now, bar none!'
A third agreed, saying: 'Bailey Smith might actually be a lock for the Brownlow.'
Smith is now a $3 favourite for the Brownlow Medal with Sportsbet, ahead of Adelaide's Jordan Dawson ($3.75) and Collingwood's Nick Daicos ($5.50).
Smith had odds as long as $51 with some bookies pre-season.
Yet others weren't quite so convinced about his stats and overall impact.
'Bailey Smith the master of the stat pad. Handballs to someone under pressure to get the handball receive every single time,' came one observation.
'Even though he's so impactful, it feels like Bailey Smith wanders around and gets lost within the game,' suggested another.
'Bailey Smith would average 150 if he could kick,' offered a SuperCoach fan.
Sitting second on the ladder, the Cats next face a huge Friday night clash with reigning premiers Brisbane in Geelong on June 20.