{"id":315560,"date":"2023-07-12T08:40:33","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T08:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=315560"},"modified":"2023-07-12T10:58:28","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T10:58:28","slug":"cats-start-meaningful-talks-with-bulldogs-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=315560","title":{"rendered":"Cats start 'meaningful' talks with Bulldogs star"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Geelong Cats<\/a> have reportedly engaged in conversations with Bailey Smith<\/a>'s management regarding a potential trade for the Western Bulldogs<\/a> star.<\/p>\n

According to SEN's Sam Edmund, the Cats are keen on luring Smith to Kardinia Park after reportedly showing an interest in acquiring the 22-year-old's services at length.<\/p>\n

Smith has faced mounting pressure in recent weeks on account of a drop-off in performance.<\/p>\n

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In Friday's 12-point loss to Collingwood, Smith slumped to just 11 disposals. However, it has since been revealed that he was unwell before the match.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"With Bailey Smith, I know there's been a bit said around this player in recent times," Edmund told SEN Afternoons.<\/p>\n

"A lot of it has been prompted by an unfortunate downturn in form.<\/p>\n

"His position and all sorts of opinions and theories have been floated off the back of that – what should and shouldn't be done with Bailey Smith.<\/p>\n

"I don't want that to cloud what I'm about to say – which has been fact now for a while, certainly since well before Smith's form dip.<\/p>\n

"That is that Geelong has had meaningful conversations about trading for Bailey Smith.<\/p>\n

"The Cats are interested in bringing Smith down to GMHBA Stadium and in fact, they've been workshopping it behind the scenes for some time."<\/p>\n

\"Western<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge defended Smith's form<\/a> while addressing "disrespectful" opinions around whether the 22-year-old should move to another club.<\/p>\n

"We're hoping whether it's this year or into next year that he finds his way to his absolute best, and we've just got to help him," Beveridge said.<\/p>\n

"He's had some real challenges, he's had injury, he's had time out of the game, he's been quite open with the mental health side of it .\u2026 absolutely we all see the potential of a young man who should be a really influential player in the competition."<\/p>\n

\ufeffIt is understood that Geelong is not the only club to reach out to Smith's management in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

"Geelong has contacted Smith's management, but I need to say in the last week or so, probably 16 clubs have done the same, reached out and inquired," Edmund said.<\/p>\n

"But for mine, Geelong's track record in this space is very solid, we know that.<\/p>\n

"When they set their sights on a player and lock in, history says they sell the vision and you know what I'm going to say next, the lifestyle, better than most.<\/p>\n

"They had considered Darcy Parish, but all signs now point to him staying at Essendon."<\/p>\n

Smith is contracted with the Bulldogs until the end of next season.<\/p>\n

He will not make the trip to Sydney\ufeff for the Bulldogs' round 18 match-up with the Swans on Thursday night because of illness, but is expected to return to training in the coming days.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Geelong Cats have reportedly engaged in conversations with Bailey Smith's management regarding a potential trade for the Western Bulldogs star. According to SEN's Sam […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":315562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315560"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=315560"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315565,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315560\/revisions\/315565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/315562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=315560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=315560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=315560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}