‘An outrageous success’: Chris Scott denies Cats are having trouble managing Bailey Smith

Geelong coach Chris Scott has denied the Cats are having trouble managing Bailey Smith and said the star midfielder’s past 12 months had been an “outrageous success”, if you “separate out the off-field issues”.

Scott’s comments came after this masthead revealed on Monday that the AFL’s legal counsel had written to Geelong warning Smith would face punishment if he continued to post controversial content on social media.

Smith has courted controversy several times following the Cats’ recent grand final loss, including posting a picture of Max Holmes dressed as respected football commentator Caroline Wilson for Mad Monday, accompanied by an insulting caption and sexual emoji.

Smith recently posted, then deleted, a thumbnail image from a nine-year-old episode of The Footy Show on YouTube, in which AFL personality Sam Newman verbally attacked Wilson.

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“Again, if you sort out of separate out the off-field issues – that’s sort of the best ways 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,” said Scott at a press conference on Wednesday morning, where he was announced as Victoria’s coach for the return of State of Origin in 2026.

“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.

“I refuse to buy into the idea that there’s major work to be done,” he continued. “I just don’t believe that to be true.”

Smith has previously apologised via text to photographer Alison Wynd after he verbally abused her at training in the week after the Cats’ qualifying win over the Lions.

Scott said he was aware of the warning from the AFL but wasn’t aware of the content, and said he welcomed the league’s involvement in working on issues with players.

“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,” he said.

Scott said he’d spoken with Smith “a week or so ago” and said wouldn’t divulge the content of the conversation, saying he respected players’ privacy and their desire to get away.

When asked his reaction to Smith’s posts about Wilson featuring a sexual emoji, Scott said he “doesn’t live in that social media world” but said he had never been a fan of Mad Monday.

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“I guess the big win for me personally over the last few weeks is that the players aren’t dressing up for Mad Monday any more,” Scott said.

“Most controversies from at least from good people, pop up when an attempt at humour falls flat. And I think that’s what these sorts of things are.”

Scott pointed out that Holmes had dressed up as sports journalists for the past few years at the end-of-season celebration. In 2023, he dressed up as SEN’s Gerard Whateley and last year impersonated Seven reporter Mitch Cleary.

Holmes’ previous impersonations of male journalists at Mad Monday were not posted online with offensive captions or emojis.

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