Will Geelong midfielder Bailey Smith have to answer the Match Review Officer (MRO) for slamming the football into Hawthorn defender Jarman Impey's head?
The unique incident in the second term could see Smith receive extra attention from the MRO, but despite its potential to cause injury, it is unlikely to be a suspendable act.
The Cats recruit received plenty of jeers from Hawks fans, while Impey's teammates remonstrated as the dashing defender got up slowly to his feet.
Jarman Impey received a free kick following this incident involving Bailey Smith.#AFLCatsHawks pic.twitter.com/winW0bqexz
โ AFL (@AFL) April 21, 2025
The umpire penalised Smith, awarding Hawthorn a free kick. Impey has continued playing the game and has shown no discernible injury from the incident.
Smith's response to the 29-year-old was due to a first term bump after he disposed of the football, which resulted in a down-field free kick.
The precedent had been set a decade ago, when Richmond defender Alex Rance was fined $1,000 for throwing the ball at Cats legend Joel Selwood.
A precedent was set for Bailey Smith's ball throwing today almost 10 years ago. ๐ @FootyonNine https://t.co/KYK5vX6l3e
โ Tom Morris (@tommorris32) April 21, 2025
Geelong coach Chris Scott said the incident was "minor" but said that the club
"It was that minor, it's not even funny. Often it's the retaliator that cops the free kick against. I think it's so minor that I wouldn't worry about it; we don't condone it, but we're much more interested in a pattern," Scott said after Monday's win.
"Even the fact I've spoken about it too much probably gives it too much airtime.
"We get that he's high profile, and I wouldn't necessarily coach anyone to behave exactly the way Bailey does, but he is what he is, and our job is to shape him. We knew he was going to come in and be a bit different to players that we've had in our system before, but we made a commitment to embrace it and help.
"He is 23, by the way, he is going to evolve. It's not just Bailey, we've got other guys that need to pick and choose their moments. He came off the ground and the crowd is into him โ I don't buy into that much, but my suggestion is the crowd loved it, the AFL loved it and I reckon Bailey loves it as well.
"If the suggestion is we should try and make him boring and vanilla then we will rally against it."
Smith recently got fined $1,000 for flipping the double bird at an Adelaide supporter.
The MRO findings for Monday's game will be released Tuesday evening.
