“Don’t talk s--t to the skipper”: Bailey Smith explains his double bird

Bailey Smith has been offered a $1500 fine after vision of him flipping the bird to fans emerged from the Adelaide Oval after Geelong’s Gather Round victory on Thursday night.

Smith had 35 disposals, six clearances and a goal in an impressive performance for the Cats, but it’s his off-field behaviour that’s making headlines.

Footage of the 24-year-old walking down the tunnel at Adelaide Oval alongside his teammates shows Smith engaging in a heated exchange with members of the crowd.

Smith has revealed how it all panned out and explained that he was defending his captain Patrick Dangerfield.

“It’s probably not my best moment,” Smith told Channel 7.

“We were walking off getting around the fans and someone was getting stuck into ‘Danger’ a bit more than he should.

“We’re in enemy territory, I love that sort of stuff, the back and forth.

“If I had my time again I probably shouldn’t have done the double bird.

“I expect a fine. Don’t talk s--t to the skipper I guess.”

Smith said he was simply sticking up for Dangerfield and suggests he might even ask the skipper to pay his fine.

“He can’t do it, he’s got a good image to uphold but I’m a bit different,” Smith added.

“It was a bit of personal stuff which crosses the line.

“Obviously you want to win with grace, but it was nothing untoward towards the Crows, just that one bloke.

“It’s obviously a bad look, which I completely agree with. Hopefully it’s not too hefty, we’ll see, I might get Danger to pay for it.”

Smith's fine comes just weeks after Harley Reid was fined for making the same gesture during West Coast’s clash against Brisbane.

Adding to Smith’s night was the suggestion – albeit it in a jovial sense – that he isn’t quite up to speed on Geelong’s team song.

“Plenty of smiles in the Geelong room,” Sarah Jones said during Fox Footy’s broadcast of Geelong’s celebrations. “(But) I'm not entirely sure Bailey Smith knows all the words to the song."

When told about his teammate signing out of sync, Max Holmes couldn't resist a little sledge.

“You’re kidding? It’s a pretty basic song,” he laughed.

“I don’t know how you couldn’t know that.”

There was plenty to be cheerful about for the Cats who came from behind to beat the Crows.

The Cats found themselves 30 points down early in the second quarter before rallying to get up by 19 points in an Adelaide Oval epic - 18.11.(119) to 15.10.(100).

SEN Breakfast’s David King was taken by the performance of Patrick Dangerfield who destroyed his former club in key moments.

“My first thoughts are Patrick Dangerfield has an anger and an aggression to his approach to the game that not many have had in the last decade,” King said on Fireball.

“The way that he attacks the ball with such ferocity, he put the fear into the back six of the Crows. They weren’t sure how to approach him, how to curtail him, and he just went to work. He willed his team over the line.

“Once they found that forward 50 ascendency, away they went. What a scoring phenomenon they were.”