Isaac Smith had an important 12 hours since the start of Geelong’s showdown with the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.
The Cats winger played a major role in the 13-point victory, gathering 15 eliminations while Geelong placed in the top four.
However, after the game is where their problems began. When Smith was asked why he had not yet seen the images of Bailey Smith nodding at Zach Tuohy, the 34-year-old revealed that he had been sleeping for just over two hours.
“Want to know what happened to me last night right after the game?” he told SEN’s Crunch Time.
“My wife has two or three days off to be 40 weeks pregnant, so we’re in the exit zone at any time.
“I lost my car keys (after the game), so I couldn’t find the car keys, so I ask the boys, ‘Does anyone have my car keys’?
“No one could find them, so I had to get my sister to pick me up. .
“(Then) they wouldn’t let me get out of the car because they couldn’t open the boom door, and then I looked for my air capsules, because you can find it on your phone, and they’re at Jeremy Cameron’s Farm.
“So my keys and my AirPods are sitting in Jeremy Cameron’s bag.”
Smith continued: “To be honest, I haven’t talked about the game, I haven’t watched the game, I haven’t reviewed the game, I’m not sure what happened.
“I think around 4:30 in the morning I closed my eyes for a couple of hours and then the little one got up around 7 in the morning.”
Smith has revitalized his career since moving to the freeway from Hawthorn at the end of the 2020 season, averaging 5.6 in 50 years in 2022, along with 21.3 discards and 6.3 points.
Smith is out of contract later this year, and while he’s not sure when negotiations for a new deal will begin, he feels comfortable with where things stand.
“It’s funny, physically I feel as good as I’ve ever felt, I think the battle once you get to 33 or 34 (years) is the mental part of things,” he added.
“Fortunately, my body is doing very well and I hope I can keep moving forward.
“(When the negotiations start) depends (list manager) Andrew Mackie. I’m lucky now that I’m in a very good place in terms of family and that I’ve improved a bit since I joined AFL , so I’m very confident in the position I’m in right now and really enjoying playing with my football. ”
Smith and his teammates will have time to recover with goodbye to round 13 before facing the troubled West Coast next week.