The club issued a formal apology on Wednesday evening for what it described as "inappropriate" costumes and social media posts.
A series of Instagram posts and stories from Bailey Smith courted a lot of unwanted attention on social media on Monday when he and teammate Patrick Dangerfield appeared at the club's end-of-season drinks in cowboy outfits with Smith making reference to the film Brokeback Mountain in one post.
It comes one year after six Greater Western Sydney Giants players were suspended and an additional seven fined for their 'Wacky Wednesday' antics in 2024 during which several players wore distasteful outfits and performed offensive acts such as a reenactment of the 2001 September 11 attacks.
The Giants omitted dress-ups from their post-season catchup following their elimination final loss to Hawthorn, which co-captain Toby Greene described as "low-key".
New AFL executive general manager of football performance Greg Swann, who recently departed as CEO of the Brisbane Lions, revealed on Wednesday that the league was pressuring the Cats into taking internal action.
"We think the clubs are the best people to deal with it, they’re their players," Swann said.
"We're not thrilled with what happened, and nor are Geelong, so they're going to take some steps. I think there'll be something coming out this afternoon around that.
"We pushed it down to them to deal with. They already were, which was good."
Late on Wednesday evening, a three-paragraph statement from Geelong all but confirmed that dress-ups would be off the menu in 2026.
"Geelong Football Club sincerely apologises for the offence caused following our end of season gathering on Monday," the statement read.
"Certain costumes and associated social media posts were inappropriate and a significant error of judgment, and do not reflect our Team of All commitment.
"The Club has decided future post season events will not continue in this current form, and we will take this moment to further educate our people on expectations and Club and community standards."