Geelong Cats recruit Bailey Smith ‘jumping out of his skin’ to play round one clash with Fremantle Dockers

A long 12 months that included recovery from a knee injury and a huge career move from the Western Bulldogs to Geelong is about to end for Bailey Smith, who is “jumping out of his skin” for his Cats debut. Cyclone Alfred delayed Smith’s first game in the hoops, but Geelong vice-captain Tom Stewart lauded the 24-year-old, who looms as an important, speedy addition to the midfield of last year’s preliminary finalists. Stewart said Smith, who suffered an ACL injury at training in December 2023, and hasn’t played at AFL level since, had been a standout since moving to Geelong both on an off the field. “It’s been long and challenging for him individually, but ever since he’s got to the club, I’ve been really proud of the way he’s applied himself to his craft and to his work,” Stewart said on Monday in the build-up to Geelong’s opening home clash with Fremantle on Saturday. Danny Roach has opened up on the difficulties he faced as he tried to carve out an AFL career with Collingwood. “He’s different with the way that he comes with the media attention and his character within society. “But you can only speak so highly of the way that he’s embraced our culture and come in and put his head down and got to work. “He’s really dragged a lot of the young boys along with him as well.” Smith wasn’t the only off-season acquisition, with delisted free agent Jack Martin also joining the Cats who went down by 10 points to the Lions in last year’s preliminary final. Both will add something to the Cats, but Smith’s run and “penetration” has Stewart excited. “He gets the ball going our way, he’s strong in the contest and he drives his legs and uses his foot, which is as good as you’ll see,” he said. “We saw that (in previous years) and if he can bring those traits to our team, it’s going to really help.” Perennial contenders, having won the 2022 premiership, Stewart said he fully expected the Cats to be challenging for the flag again having tinkered enough for the new campaign. “It would be naive of us to think that we don’t have to shift and pivot, but we as a club have had such consistency for a long period of time and we understand what it is to play finals footy,” he said. “In my time I’ve played in two grand finals and four prelims in eight years. “You do tinker at the edges, but what we value and at our core of who we are as a group doesn’t really change that much.”