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Bailey beware: Brownlow Medallist’s fears for Cats star
SEN • October 3rd, 2025 2:10 pm
Bailey Smith needs to temper his behaviour in order to have a fruitful career at Geelong.
That is according to Brownlow Medallist Adam Cooney who believes his fellow former Western Bulldogs star must toe the line more often.
Smith has been criticised for his antics around Geelong’s Mad Monday celebrations following a season in which he delivered on field but was often in the headlines for questionable behaviour.
Cooney says he fears for Smith’s career if he continues to go down this path.
“I think Geelong did the right thing (by cancelling future Mad Mondays). I think Bailey Smith overstepped the mark with the comments that were deemed to be homophobic,” Cooney said on SEN’s Sportsday.
“I think that was a tipping point again for Geelong.
“Bailey Smith has got to be careful. If he doesn’t pull his head in, in 12 months’ time he’s not going to be at Geelong. We’ll be talking about Bailey Smith in the trade period in 2026 because is so high profile, so even the smallest thing…
“Tyson Stengle has had a couple of faux pas out the front of Geelong nightclubs. He’s of lower profile so that gets swept under the rug a bit. It’s in the news for a day.
“Everything Bailey does is magnified by a hundred. He’s getting just a little bit too big for his boots at the moment.
“Some of the comments that he’s been making, even walking into Mad Monday saying ‘I haven’t sunk p—s for a couple of days, I’m ready to go get in to it’. Like, he wouldn’t have said that four years ago.
“He just needs to temper it a little bit because Chris Scott gives his players an amazing amount of freedom, independence and responsibility. But if you don’t do the right thing by him, you’re gone.
“I just don’t want to see it go pear-shaped.”
Off-field issues aside, Smith produced a career-best season to claim a maiden All-Australian blazer, win the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year award alongside Gold Coast’s Noah Anderson while playing in the Grand Final and finishing second in Geelong’s best and fairest.
