“Ego got the better of me”: Smith opens up after ‘angry’ 2025

Bailey Smith has opened up on his mental state, both now and compared to a tumultuous 2025 season with Geelong.

The 25-year-old midfield star, who is in his second season with the Cats, found himself in hot water with the AFL on several occasions last year for questionable on-field behaviour.

So far in 2026, the man they call ‘Bazlenka’ has enjoyed an incident-free campaign with his footy doing all the talking.

In a wide-ranging interview with Tom Morris with thanks to Telstra on Channel 7’s Agenda Setters, Smith spoke of his mindset now as opposed to last year.

He admits he often used anger in a bid to prove himself again having crossed from the Western Bulldogs after missing 2024 with a knee injury.

“I think I have (matured),” Smith told Morris.

“I’m a lot less emotional. I think last year the whole year was a chip on my shoulder.

“I wanted to return well and show that I still loved the game and wanted to be one of the best. I think a lot of that came out of anger, weirdly, after the year I had.

“I probably wasn’t in a good place, and the year before that.”

The reigning AFLCA Champion Player (alongside Noah Anderson) and 2025 All-Australian has been doing a lot of work on himself to ensure he can balance his emotions with his on-field exploits.

“So I’ve been working really hard on metacognitive awareness,” he added.

“The notion that you’re not your thoughts, you’re purely an observer of them. Understanding that how I think doesn’t need to be how I feel, and just learning to be more aware and curious of why I’m thinking or why I’m feeling some way each day, rather than acting on it. Making permanent decisions based on temporary emotions.

“I’m working with my psych on not being so reactive. I’ll still be emotional, I’m not emotionally numb, but just learning to be aware of the tricks your brain tries to play on you.”

Smith, in his own words, was last year busy “reintegrating” back into the footy landscape as well as with both the media and on social media. He admits at times he battled.

“I kind of had a year off it when I did my knee. Last year I didn’t handle it too well,” he said further.

“I don’t really want to let my emotions get the better of me again with a lot of the way I acted at times.”

Morris pointed out that Smith still played great footy last year despite the apparent issues.

“Yeah, but that shouldn’t come at a cost,” Smith responded.

“I think it’s good human first then the byproduct of that is you play good footy. And if you don’t at least at the end of the day you’re still a good person.

“Whereas last year at all costs I wanted to play good football and I think my ego got the better of me with a lot of things.”

During his six seasons with the Bulldogs, Smith emerged as one of the most promising young midfielders in the game.

It didn’t go to plan in the end, and while he admits he wasn’t the best teammate, he wouldn’t change how it all panned out.

“I was still grappling with a few things of my own. I don’t know, it’s always an excuse,” he said.

“But yeah, I probably could have been a better teammate, a few things could have gone differently.

“But ultimately I wouldn’t change a thing because everything happens (for a reason) and leads you on a path that you find yourself grateful to be on.

“I’m grateful for my time there, they ought me a lot of things from a football perspective, ‘Bont’ (Marcus Bontempelli) especially.

“At the end of the day it’s a business. They’ll happily delist someone so who am I not to leave, and if I’m going to take my career into my own hands and not wonder ‘what if’, and if I thought Geelong was the best place for me, I’d be pretty stupid not to take that opportunity.

“Especially at a time when I felt like I needed it.”

Read the full Q&A between Tom Morris and Bailey Smith in the AFL Record this weekend.