{"id":326866,"date":"2023-08-29T04:22:31","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T04:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=326866"},"modified":"2023-08-29T06:00:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T06:00:39","slug":"trade-tug-of-war-looming-for-young-bulldogs-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=326866","title":{"rendered":"Trade tug of war looming for young Bulldogs star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leading AFL journalist Caroline Wilson<\/a> has confirmed the Western Bulldogs<\/a> will push hard to retain star midfielder Bailey Smith<\/a>, despite internal frustration surrounding his progress at the club.<\/p>\n

Smith has reportedly been in "meaningful" discussions with Geelong since early July<\/a>, while his childhood side Hawthorn has also registered an interest in acquiring him during this year's trade period, but Wilson believes the Bulldogs are still keen to retain the 103-gamer.<\/p>\n

"(CEO) Ameet Bains has said that Bailey Smith is a required player," Wilson told Nine's Footy Classified<\/em> on Monday night.<\/p>\n

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"But there is huge frustration with him, he's on a huge amount of money, he's clearly a very high maintenance player, there's several clubs looking at him, Collingwood and Hawthorn as well as Geelong."<\/p>\n

\"MELBOURNE,<\/p>\n

Despite the club's eagerness to keep Smith at Whitten Oval, \ufeffPort Adelaide legend Kane Cornes is certain that there's a spot down the highway for the struggling young star, with the Cats known for their successful second chance stories.<\/p>\n

"I think Geelong is the right home for him," Cornes told Footy Classified<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"They've taken a risk on players like Tyson Stengle with really good results, he's (Smith) a hard worker and I think he fits in perfectly (at Geelong).Footy Classified<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs are likely to ask for more than Geelong's first round pick in this year's draft (currently No.7) in a trade deal involving Smith, who has one year to run on his current deal. <\/p>\n

Talk around Smith's future at the Bulldogs comes as the club continues to throw its support behind embattled coach Luke Beveridge<\/a>, despite criticism that his poor management is the reason for Smith's\ufeff fall from grace.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Bailey<\/p>\n

Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd likened the looming Whitten Oval exodus \ufeffto what happened at Essendon a few years back, where a number of players opted to join rival clubs due to the poor culture at the club.<\/p>\n

"When you look at the Bombers, when you see players want to leave," he told Footy Classified<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"That period where (Orazio) Fantasia, (Joe) Daniher, (Adam) Saad, you realise you've got problems as a football club."\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffCornes suggested the "commentary" regarding Beveridge is fair, calling on the struggling coach to ensure he is critical of himself for the betterment of the club moving forward.<\/p>\n

"I don't think the commentary around Luke Beveridge has been disrespectful," he said.<\/p>\n

\"Bailey<\/p>\n

"We can only judge you on (whether) you are maximising what you've got. If Luke can sit there \ufeffand say, 'Luke Beveridge has delivered on the talent he's got in that list to the results that they should have got like other sides', then I'll take him at his word."<\/p>\n

\ufeffBut Wilson suggested the club would ignore the outside noise and "respect" what Beveridge has done for the club over his tenure, despite "tension" lingering in the corridors of Whitten Oval.<\/p>\n

Footy Classified is now available as a podcast! Subscribe\/follow via <\/strong><\/em>Apple<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, <\/strong><\/em>Spotify<\/strong><\/em><\/a> or <\/strong><\/em>Google Podcasts<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\ufeff<\/p>\n

"There is a lot of tension between management and Luke Beveridge," she said.<\/p>\n

"They've decided to respect \ufeffthe performances of the past. And I think, my view, give him one more year."<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs missed the finals for the first time since 2018 after finishing ninth during the home and away season. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leading AFL journalist Caroline Wilson has confirmed the Western Bulldogs will push hard to retain star midfielder Bailey Smith, despite internal frustration surrounding his progress […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":326868,"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\/326866"}],"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=326866"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326870,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326866\/revisions\/326870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/326868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=326866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=326866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=326866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}