Mackie on the Smith Trade

In the end the Bulldogs had a fair bit going on, clearly with the four way trade and some moving parts.

If you are in that position, and we did the same with Esava last year, you wait and use the time to put some pressure on and see what other clubs are willing to give up.

I get it and understand it, we thought it was going to go that way but we have been really respectful in the conversations with the Bulldogs.

We were always confident that we would get there, our intention was to make sure the Bulldogs received compensation for Bailey.

That is good for them, but equally exciting for us that we get to bring Bailey in and we are looking forward to that. 

Mackie on How the Negotiaion Played Out

From us it was always going to be pick 17.

We are really protective of our picks like every club is, we want to give our recruiters the best chance to bring new talent in as well as traded talent like Bailey whether it be this year or into the future.

That is why these negotiations do take a while, clubs need to represent themselves and do what they need to do.

As I stand here right now we are really excited as a footy club, we have a 23 year old Bailey Smith coming in and we are excited about what he can do for us. 

Mackie on Smith's Injury Recovery

As it stands now my understanding is that he is going really well.

He is in a really good space both physically and mentally, he is really excited about the opportunity to come down and play for us.That has got him really up and about, as it has for us so we are looking forward to that.

We will make sure we put all our support around him and the physical elements that he needs, ticking off the markers that he needs to get through from here.

That will be the stuff that we work through next with our team, but my understanding is that he is going really well.