2 hours ago
8
Bailey Smith has hit back at Mitch Brown after the AFL's first openly bisexual player slammed the Geelong star's Mad Monday antics.
Brown wasn't impressed with Smith after he made a series of controversial Instagram posts from the Cats' end-of-season celebrations.
One of the social media posts featured Smith and Patrick Dangerfield in a pose referencing the movie Brokeback Mountain.
He captioned it 'this is what losing a granny does to ya'.
Brown first published a picture of Heath Ledger on his story, who plays the lead character Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain.
'Just for the record, Heath Ledger's way hotter,' Brown said, appearing to fire shade at Smith.
Smith (pictured left with teammate Patrick Dangerfield) was accused of homophobia over this Mad Monday post referring to the movie Brokeback Mountain
Mitch Brown (pictured), who made history by becoming the first AFL player to ever come out as bisexual, blasted Smith over the post
Now Smith has hit back at Brown with the above Instagram post featuring Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger
He then followed that story up with another message, writing: 'In all seriousness, though, guys do better.
'Last time I checked, losing a Grand Final doesn't make you gay, but being homophobic definitely makes you a loser,' Brown said.
On Monday night, Smith posted a photo to his Instagram story of Heath Ledger raising his middle finger - seemingly in response to the row.
Last week, veteran AFL journalist Caroline Wilson launched a blistering attack on Smith, accusing the Geelong star of sending 'an insulting and sexist message'.
Wilson penned an op-ed for The Age on Saturday after Smith mocked her and made fun of her in a now-deleted Instagram post during the Cats' Mad Monday celebrations.
Smith's teammate, Max Holmes, turned up to the celebrations dressed as Wilson, replicating a gown she once wore to the Walkley Awards.
Smith later shared a photo of Holmes on his Instagram story, captioning it, 'Caro has never looked better,' followed by a sweat droplets emoji, a symbol often used with sexual connotations.
The post came just weeks after Wilson branded Smith a 'brat' for swearing at a female photographer during an open training session on September 10.
Smith (right) with Max Holmes (left) who was dressed up as Caroline Wilson for Mad Monday
Meanwhile, Geelong have stated that they are 'really confident' in their management of Smith while conceding they aren't perfect.
When asked how the dust had settled from the Mad Monday event, football boss Andrew Mackie pointed to the AFL grand finalist's statement at the time and said: 'Obviously, we're not perfect. We don't stand here and pretend to be.
'When you've got a playing list and staff like us, there's no finished product.
'We're a work in progress all across the board as a club, like everyone probably should be. We're no different.
'Every now and then, there's things that pop up that ideally don't, but we can only learn and educate from here our players and our people.'
Mackie rubbished a report that the club hadn't known Smith's whereabouts in recent days and was confident in how they were handling the 24-year-old, who starred off a knee reconstruction in his first season at Geelong.
'Really confident,' he said.
'No, that wasn't all factual - I was aware what he was up to.
'But, like I said, I get the interest in Bailey. But him playing footy this year is a real success story for the game.
'As I said, we're all not perfect. We've just got to continue to keep working together and those little moments that might bubble away, we've just got to keep on educating.'
