Trade Requested Bailey Smith - Reportedly headed to Geelong

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He didn't turn up to the meetings arranged by the club to talk about it.


It’s widely ranged from the many times it’s been told but here is the thing we know is true…when he was leaving the Dogs he and his agent flag interest with the Cats.
Wells set up a meeting with all of the big rigs to give him a tour of the facilities and really sell Geelong to him.

Now this is where I’ve heard different versions.

1. He ghosted them after being fully on board and they basically didn’t know what happened until reports started coming out that he was signing with the Dons. He lead them on.

2. He was mega late, like hours late to his meeting and didn’t call ahead or anything to apologise. He just rocked up way late and by that point Wells basically gave him basic politeness but he was fuming and ended the meeting very quickly (and it’s really hard to piss off Stephen Wells)

3. Stringer had the meeting with Wells but he immediately knew it wasn’t a good fit and ended the meeting without going very in depth or doing a tour of the facilities.

By all accounts, Wells flagged interest and Stringer showed interest as well but something changed dramatically with Wells and since then it seems like Stringer was blacklisted. That’s why it was hilarious when someone tried to link him to the Cats however many weeks ago, we knew it was rubbish.

But anyway, it’s like the Hopper fiasco. Glad they chose elsewhere, those guys both saved us from overpaying two guys who would not have fit in well.

Smith it remains to be seen. Will he buy in to the Cats culture of team first footy? Lots of unrewarded running and checking your ego in Scotty’s gameplan. Hoping for our sake it works out and we get him back to his best.
 
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I thought it couldn’t get worse than Brisbane/Dunkley. Boy was I wrong.
Dunkley was way worse. We cried so hard we had to bring Dunkleys dad, brother, sister and girlfriend into it, and continue to cry 2 years later
At least with Smith we are only crying about Smith.
Hopefully we'll be able to move on this time.
 
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Depending where bids are projected you could probably get 31 from Brisbane or 32 from Essendon. 17 + 31 gets it done I reckon.

They would only do those trades on the night I think (when they know how many points they need) not now.
 
The constant statements by Geelong fans "we're not breaking any rules, we're just trying to trade for an out of contract player" is not entirely correct either.

If Smith was avaliable at the draft, had not nominated and was equally as motivated to play for every club - at least in theory that being available in the draft pool suggests - where would he be drafted?

It may not be a top 10 pick, but It would be a lot earlier than the pick 22 or whatever the Cats' pick ends up being.

By virtue of the very fact that every single one of the 10 or 12 picks before Geelong is discouraged to select Smith effectively amounts to rule-breaking tampering.

Yes, I'm aware that Luke Ball did it too. Didn't make it right either then. At at least it was better serving the purposes of equalisation (moving to a team that finished lower the previous season) than Smith trying to move to a team that finished higher.

No one says it's right we just say it's how the system works. You've yet to prove that it's not how the system works you just seem frustrated about the reality.

Players are never motivated to play for every club equally and the afl has allowed them and the player agents too much power to get away with it. Why would this case be any different from all the others?
 

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You've yet to prove that it's not how the system works you just seem frustrated about the reality.
"the system works" is in theory a player being in the draft is following the rules of the draft and draftable by all teams - and there are rules in place for that.

Smith presumably has to actively nominate for the draft if trades fall through, and in doing so, agrees to the rules of the draft, which includes an obligation to be listed by the team that drafts him.
Players are never motivated to play for every club equally and the afl has allowed them and the player agents too much power to get away with it. Why would this case be any different from all the others?
Yes, which is not a good thing, both in the sense of fairness to clubs but also just the general aims of the AFL in its equalisation. That's the point.
 
No one says it's right we just say it's how the system works. You've yet to prove that it's not how the system works you just seem frustrated about the reality.

Players are never motivated to play for every club equally and the afl has allowed them and the player agents too much power to get away with it. Why would this case be any different from all the others?
If people want to talk about how things "should be" and point out flaws in the system, the actual fundamental flaw here is that Bailey Smith is an uncontracted player, but he still needs to be traded for. This is not the case in other professional sporting leagues. An unsigned player is a free agent and can walk to where he wants to go. That's really how it should be, but the AFL don't have the balls to do it.

Any unsigned player by trade period is a free agent and can freely walk (no lame comp system either). This forces clubs to either get players signed promptly, or to organise trades when they're still under contract as requested. All this jostling for a player who doesn't have a contract with their "current" club is really pretty illogical and ludicrous. Smith actually is not a Bulldogs player because he does not have a contract with them for next season.

I'm sure that in the future this is how the AFL will go as well. I'm sure the AFLPA will push hard for it given how frequently you get clubs holding players somewhere they don't want to be for another year on their contract, and still being hard-nosed pricks the following year when the player is no longer theirs.
 
Young Bailey Smith will end up at the Preseason Draft with my lovely Tigers taking him at Pick 1.

Ciao 🐯
 

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Trade Requested Bailey Smith - Reportedly headed to Geelong

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