Chris Scott has rejected the idea that Geelong has a problem on its hands with Bailey Smith’s off-field behaviour, describing the star midfielder’s first 12 months at the club as an “outrageous success.”
It comes after reports emerged this week that the AFL contacted the Cats this week over Smith’s contentious social media behaviour.
That includes a now-deleted story where club legend Sam Newman verbally attacked veteran journalist Caroline Wilson on The Footy Show nearly a decade ago.
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It continued a line of controversial off-field matters throughout the season, with AFL chief Andrew Dillon meeting with Smith and senior Cats officials in June to discuss the 24-year old’s behaviour.
Most recently, Geelong scrapped its Mad Monday costumes after blowback to this year’s antics, which included Smith posting a story of teammate Max Holmes dressed up as Caroline Wilson with an inappropriate caption.
But Scott, who’s been announced as the coach of Victoria for next year’s Origin match against Western Australia, called for calm for some of the furore surrounding Smith.
“We almost wear it as a badge of honour that we don’t consider our role as one of ownership of our players, that’s just not the way we think about the world. But there is an expectation that we will work together, hopefully, as much as possible as peers to continually get better,” Scott said on Wednesday.
“If you separate our off-field issues — that’s probably the best way to describe it — and think through how the last 12 months have gone with Bailey, it’s been an outrageous success. Outrageous.
“Not perfect, but if you were privy to some of the information with a whole range of our players, I think it’s likely that’s going to be a similar sort of description. Some bits have gone really, really well, and there are other bits that we’ve sort of got to nudge and manage a little bit.
“But that’s all it is, it’s a nudge here and there. I refuse to buy into the idea there’s some serious, major work to be done. I just don’t believe that to be true.”
Scott acknowledged he’s aware there’s been communication between the AFL and Geelong regarding Smith but said he wasn’t across the specifics.
And the Geelong coach welcomes the league working “collaboratively” with clubs when necessary.
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“It shouldn’t be a matter of, there’s the head office in charge of enforcement and there’s the clubs involved in dealing with the issues. We should be working collaboratively together and that’s actually been my experience behind the scenes,” he said.
“My suspicion is there’s a bit of a disconnect around the perception on some of these issues and how they’re being handled and the actual reality. It’s not that everything’s fine all the time, but it’s certainly not that there’s this explosion of discomfort or unhappiness with each other.
“I think the two parties are pretty closely aligned on where all this stuff is at … far from being concerned that they’ve reached out, I think it’s a real positive thing.
“It’s not as if they’re sitting back in a silo and not helping us. I think it’s the opposite, I think it’s good collaboration.”
Scott said it was a “big win” for him personally that Geelong players would stop dressing up for Mad Monday as something he’s “never been a fan of.”
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He suggested Holmes’ Caroline Wilson dress up was “well intentioned” but conceded it missed the mark.
“I’ve never been a fan of it (Mad Monday dress ups). I don’t think (Cats CEO) Steve Hocking is that type of guy, (footy boss) Andrew Mackie is certainly not. Hopefully it sort of explains a bit how we think of the world. Just because I don’t like it, it doesn’t that I should impose my will on the rest of the players,” he said.
“Obviously it’s a safer thing to do to not dress up. Most controversies, at least from good people, pop up when an attempt at humour falls flat. I think that’s what these sort of things are.
“I go to our drinks on the Monday after the last game as late as possible so I can avoid most of this nonsense.
“But they did tell me Max is dressed up as a journalist the third year in a row … the way I tend to approach life is I assume good intent. It would be helpful it other people did as well, but you know that’s not going to be the case.
“Sometimes you can be well intentioned and try to make a gag that either falls flat or crosses the line. I think the real issue is when it’s at the expense of someone else, you should think hard about it, and that’s probably what we’re talking about.”
So who would Scott love to coach in the Vic Origin team for next February’s match?
The dual premiership coach said there were “60 locks in my mind,” naming Marcus Bontempelli and Nick Daicos as potential options and suggesting Tom Stewart deserved a gig.
And while Geelong missed out on trade targets Charlie Curnow and Rowan Marshall during the exchange window, Scott hinted he could still get an opportunity to coach both players in the Origin game.
“Maybe we’ll get the opportunity mid-February for them to play in the big V jumper,” Scott said.
“I’ve been thinking a bit about Charlie Curnow over the last couple of weeks. I’d be very surprised if he wasn’t someone I’d like to see wearing the Big V.
“I think that’s probably likely, shouldn’t guarantee anyone at the moment. I had a bit of a cursory glance at the list of players that are available. There are 60 locks at the moment, in my mind. So that’s going to be difficult to work through.”
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