AFL greats have expressed concern for the welfare of Western Bulldogs star Bailey Smith after he was spotted running extra kilometres after a recent win over North Melbourne.
Smith has been electric for the Bulldogs since he was drafted in 2018, but he also has a troubled side.
He was suspended for two weeks and received a strike under the illicit drugs policy last season while also being rubbed out for a fortnight for a headbutt on Geelong star Zach Tuohy.
Smith has also spoken candidly about his private mental health struggles and took a break from the club during the off-season in 2021.
The Bulldogs beat North Melbourne comfortably in round 14 but instead of enjoying the win in the sheds with his teammates, Smith was spotted doing laps of Marvel Stadium after the siren.
Bailey Smith is one of the hardest workers in the AFL and has admitted to being ‘obsessive’ about his diet and training
Smith was spotted doing extra running after playing the majority of a game that the Bulldogs won at Marvel Stadium
The 22-year-old’s stats have dropped this season, averaging 25.5 disposals compared to 29.1 in 2022 – although he is playing a slightly different role for the team.
The sight of Smith punishing himself after a win had two AFL greats concerned, including Port Adelaide champion Kane Cornes.
‘He’s the most famous player in the game, he’s had issues off the field, even in the pre-season he was concerned about photographers taking his picture,’ Cornes told Nine’s Footy Classified.
‘I just think he needs to be really well supported at the footy club and they need to get him back to his devastating best. Is that wing? Is it high half-forward? Is it inside? But more so I’m focused on off the field as well.’
‘I just think he needs to be really well supported at the footy club and they need to get him back to his devastating best. Is that wing? Is it high half-forward? Is it inside? But more so I’m focused on off the field as well.’
Cornes is concerned that Bailey doesn’t understand his identity at the Bulldogs and the club needs to settle on a regular position for him
Lloyd is worried that Smith is over-training and wants somebody at the Bulldogs to step in before it become a bigger problem
Former Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd said somebody at the Bulldogs needed to intervene after Smith was spotted doing the extras despite playing 82 minutes against the Kangaroos.
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‘He was running 200s [200-metre sprints] after the game … I didn’t like it, just for the fact that you’ve got to save some players from themselves,’ Lloyd told Footy Classified.
‘I’ve played with teammates who’ve been fantastic footballers and they’ve started weighing their foods, doing all sorts of things, overtraining and mentally getting worse by doing more.
‘They may have another reason for it, but I’d say to Bailey: ‘You’ve just played a game of football … you don’t need to go and do that.’
It’s also not the first time this season Smith has been seen putting in the extras after a match.
Smith’s self-confessed ‘obsessive’ training regime was set in place long before he was even drafted to the AFL.
Xavier College had been beaten by arch rivals Haileybury in the APS schoolboy competition in 2017 and Bailey was seen running 200s after the loss on a cold winter’s Saturday afternoon.
Smith exploded onto the scene in 2018 and had his career-best figures last year before off and on-field incidents had an impact
The Dogs star is known for keeping his private life tucked away from the glaring eyes of the media and footy fans
His weekly preparation has also included fastidious counting of his daily calorie and macronutrient intake since his schoolboy days.
Smith was sidelined for two games with a calf strain in April that saw him miss road matches against Port Adelaide and Fremantle.
He has since been working to get back to peak fitness to help the Bulldogs press for an AFL finals berth.
However, while Cornes and Lloyd believe that Smith was punishing himself, fans had another school of thought – that the club made him run because he did not reach the required distance during the match.
‘He obviously didn’t run too far during the game so has to make up the distance,’ one follower posted.
‘His [sic] required to because he didn’t work hard enough during the game. Didn’t clock enough KMs,’ replied another.
‘Would have to have logged a below forecast mileage in the game otherwise this seems like a bad idea,’ added another.
