Footy heartthrob Bailey Smith serves up a devastating comeback to a fan who insulted him about his famous mullet

• Bailey Smith fires back at heckling Brisbane fan
• Cats blew a 32-point lead against premiers

By MURRAY WENZEL FOR AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS and JAMES COONEY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Geelong superstar Bailey Smith delivered two great performances on Saturday night, with the midfielder finding a moment to make a cutting comeback to a heckling fan as he starred in his team’s loss to the Lions.

The Cats were cruising at the Gabba, up by 32 points on a wet night before Brisbane kicked seven goals to their two in the second half to win 10.10 (70) to 9.7 (61).

Smith, who was returning from a calf niggle, was among the best on ground in the first half, but was copping it from the Brisbane fans.

One vocal heckler took aim at Smith’s famous mullet and the footy star didn’t take long to respond, replying ‘At least I’ve got hair’ in a moment another fan captured on video.

The loss followed an upset seven-point defeat to St Kilda six days earlier, but coach Chris Scott insists his side is ‘miles away’ from panicking about their 1-2 start to the season.

‘Big parts of the game we had under control, so it’s very annoying we let it slip,’ Scott said.

Geelong superstar Bailey Smith is one of the highest-profile players in the AFL right now

‘But if you have losses early in the season and think … “we’re so far off” … we’re miles away from that space.

‘You try to look forward. There have been so many years when we’ve ended up in a pretty good position and you look back and think ‘that game’s really going to hurt us’ and in the end it hasn’t.

‘You’ll get plenty of opportunities to feel sorry for yourself and let it compound, but you’ve just got to hang in a little bit.’

Scott was very impressed with Smith’s performance after the former Bulldogs star missed their previous game against St Kilda with a calf injury. 

‘He’s going to really help us … he’s already made a difference,’ Scott said.

While frustrated by a string of ‘critical errors’, Scott looked to the defensive efforts of Irishman Oisin Mullin on Charlie Cameron and 19-year-old key defender Connor O’Sullivan as clear upsides.

‘We’ve got some young guys that can come in and improve us quickly, which we’ll need,’ he said.

‘If we don’t find a way to improve, the competition’s pretty ominous.’

Smith missed the entire 2024 season as he recovered from a knee injury at his former club, the Western Bulldogs

Defender Tom Stewart was named to play despite suffering a knee injury last week, before being replaced shortly before the first bounce on Saturday.

Confident he’ll play next week against Melbourne, Scott said they had given Stewart as long as possible to prove his fitness and that ‘if he was a fair way off yesterday when we got on the plane, we wouldn’t have brought him’.

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Footy heartthrob Bailey Smith serves up a devastating comeback to a fan who insulted him about his famous mullet

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