Think back to what Bailey Smith was able to achieve in 2019.

As an 18-year-old.

In his first year in the AFL.

Off the back of an injury-impacted pre-season.

Now think about this year and what he might be able to do, with a full pre-season under his belt and a year of playing with and against some of the competition’s best midfielders.

“I’m on the track a lot more of the time compared to last year, where it was such a short stint,” Smith told westernbulldogs.com.au.

“I’ve had a lot more time to improve different facets of my game, be it my midfield craft or forward craft.

“My focus has been short-term goal-setting, trying to improve.

“Every day I get to come in and try to level up.

“I want to see what weapon I can add to my arsenal each day, what I can get better at.”

Smith is one of the competition’s most exciting young players.

And if you ask most people who know him, they’ll tell you he’s also one of the most driven.

“It was a pretty amazing first year to be able to come in and have the impact that he did,” fellow young gun Tim English told westernbulldogs.com.au.

“He’s got that internal drive, everyone’s seen his fiery nature on the ground.

“He’s always going to be one of those guys who is really competitive – you can see how much it means to him.”

The top-10 draft pick averaged 17.7 disposals and four tackles per game in his debut season, playing all 23 games at AFL level including a taste of finals football.

He’s only come back more motivated to build on what he was able to achieve.

“I look back with mixed emotions – it was a good year for me, being able to play every game. I certainly didn’t go in expecting that,” Smith said.

“I was lucky enough to experience how special finals footy is. But it was a sour end to the year, losing to GWS in the fashion that we did.

“I suppose that makes me look forward to this year even more, building on last year both individually and as a team.”