By Ed Carruthers,Editor

Copyright dailymail

Saturday afternoon will be only the second time Bailey Smith has stepped out onto the hallowed turf at the MCG to compete in an AFL Grand Final.

And he is out to lead his new club, Geelong to flag glory against reigning premiers the Brisbane Lions, with the 24-year-old hungry to win his first-ever premiership title.

It’s been a whirlwind year for the Cats midfielder, who has returned to the AFL after being sidelined for the entire 2024 season with a horror ACL injury.

It was a period that Smith has dubbed one of the ‘loneliest times of my life’, with the footy star also recently revealing that he had checked himself into a psych ward, after having gone through a ‘really dark time’.

But a year on and Smith is on the cusp of greatness.

He has already enjoyed a ton of success this year, placing third in this year’s Brownlow Medal count and bagging his first All-Australian blazer.

While talk of his rumoured relationship with social media star Tammy Hembrow has dominated the headlines, the footy star appears focused on getting the job done on Saturday and appears to have lifted the lid on how he’s staying motivated to perform at his best.

Smith published a snap of his locker at Geelong’s training ground on Wednesday afternoon.

The door of the locker had been left open and inside the door of the locker and the footy star had pasted several notes and motivational messages on his locker.

‘I am disciplined, I am fearless, I am confident, I am free,’ one note read.

‘I embrace pain, pressure and hardship.’

Several other longer notes were pasted on the inside of the locker but couldn’t be read in the image.

Smith also had a Snoop Dogg jumper hung from the top of his locker, with the US rapper set to feature as the half-time entertainment for this year’s Grand Final.

The image comes as the Geelong star stole the show at the Brownlow Medal awards ceremony on Monday night, showing up to the Crown Palladium wearing a pair of speed dealer glasses.

He posed for photos with AFL CEO Andrew Dillon and spoke about how excited he was for this weekend’s Grand Final.

On Tuesday, the 24-year-old took to Instagram to reflect on the past 24 months, posting a video of himself training on his own one evening back in August 2024, while he was recovering from his ACL injury.

He revealed to fans that this was one of the ‘loneliest periods of my life’, reflecting on the mental toll that his injury took on him back in 2024.

‘Seven months, 1 week post ACL surgery. No motivation.’

Heartbreakingly, he delved into that period of his recovery further, making several tough admissions.

‘Every session on my own. *****s writing me off. So much doubt and anxiety about the future.

‘But just kept on swimmin’. Always will. See you Saturday.’

While Smith has ruffled the feathers of a few, for his ‘flipping the bird’ antics this year, he has been in brilliant form on the footy field.

He has averaged a career-high average disposals of 31.4, as well as 110 tackles across 22 games, a career-best figure.