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Geelong coach Chris Scott has played down Bailey Smith’s meeting with AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon as he prepares to welcome his star recruit back from injury.

Smith made headlines after Dillon, Scott, Geelong football boss Andrew Mackie and CEO Steve Hocking met at his surf coast property last Thursday.

The “low-key” meeting was reportedly about emphasising Smith’s position as a role model, after he alluded to recreational drug use on social media and was also twice fined for flipping the bird at opposition fans.

“I wouldn’t overplay the importance of it,” Scott said on Friday.

“It was a very casual and low-key catch-up, as much as can be between peers when you’ve got a 23 or 24-year-old with the CEO of the Cats and the CEO of the AFL.

“I’m loathe to say too much because I don’t want to speak on behalf of Andrew Dillon, but as a club we certainly appreciated the fact that he reached out.”

Scott indicated the Cats and Dillon had felt a face-to-face catch-up was appropriate and Smith, 24, was “keen” too.

“The takeaways would have been Bailey has a really good feel that he’s got a lot of people supporting him,” he said.

“I think he recognised better post that meeting how much the AFL value what he can bring to the game, and by extension to the AFL themselves.

“I don’t think he’s ever had any trouble with this, but it has been reinforced, the responsibility that he has to the game as well. Those things kind of go hand-in-glove.

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“The more I talk about it, the more I get concerned that I give the impression that it was three or four people speaking at Bailey. It wasn’t like that at all.

“He actually did most of the talking – which is not unusual.”

After missing last week’s win over Gold Coast with hamstring tightness, Smith will return against Essendon at the MCG on Saturday.

When asked if he was sick of talking about his boom recruit, who has starred on-field, Scott said: “No, I don’t, and we’re loving having him.

“Even these things are so minor in my opinion.

“If you had 100 units, this would constitute one, and the other 99 have just been so positive for us on the field. It’s been good fun to have him around the place.

“Players love him. Staff love him.

“We’re on our toes, aren’t we? “It’s exciting. But we’ve said for a long time we don’t have any intention of trying to fill our list with the same sort of person. He is unique, but in the most positive sense of the word.”

Saturday’s game against Essendon will mark Chris and twin brother Brad Scott’s combined 1000th AFL game as players and coaches.

The pair played a combined 383 games and have coached 616 games between them.

“Even I appreciate the coincidence of it, that our teams happen to be playing each other this week,” Scott said.

“I think about well, that’s a thousand times combined that we’ve collectively felt sick the day of a game. It probably means we’ve been around for a while.”

AAP