Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Football
Netball
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Scott breaks silence on Bailey Smith behaviour and AFL warning
SEN • October 22nd, 2025 2:06 pm
Geelong coach Chris Scott has broken his silence on Bailey Smith’s social media activity and the disruption it causes, days after it was revealed the AFL had written to the club to put the superstar on notice.
Smith will receive sanctions from the AFL if his negative social media activity continues to cause the issues it has in recent weeks.
The 24-year-old has been at the centre of numerous social media scandals, most recently sharing an Instagram story displaying a photo of an episode of The Footy Show, within which former AFL personality Sam Newman berated journalist Caroline Wilson.
This came just days after Geelong’s Mad Monday antics, where Max Holmes’ decision to dress up as Wilson and Smith’s ongoing Instagram use during the Cats’ celebrations caused major criticism and the ultimate cancellation of future Mad Mondays.
Despite the headlines and criticism, Scott insists the club does not have a problem when it comes to managing Smith who he says he been an “outrageous success” for the club.
“If you separate out the off-field issues – that’s sort of the best way to describe it – and we think through how the last 12 months have gone with Bailey, it’s been an outrageous success. Outrageous, not perfect,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday morning.
“But if you are privy to some of the information with a whole range of our players, I think it’s likely that that’s going to be a similar sort of description, that some bits have gone really, really well, and there are other bits that we’ve sort of got to nudge and manage.
“In my opinion, it shouldn’t be a matter of, there’s the head office that’s in charge of enforcement, and there are the clubs that are involved in dealing with the issues, we should be working collaboratively together, and that’s actually been my experience behind the scenes.”
More to come.
