Chris Scott admits Jeremy Cameron’s teammates had an extra eye out for him as the Geelong spearhead continued his pursuit of a rare century with six goals in an 88-point thumping of Port Adelaide.
But the two-time premiership coach doesn’t believe it has become an issue that is hurting the Cats, who pressed their case for a top-two spot in the dominant 23.15 (153) to 9.11 (65) victory at GMHBA Stadium on Sunday.
It lifted fourth-placed Geelong (14-6) to within one win of top sides Adelaide and Collingwood, and two points shy of Brisbane, with three rounds left in the home-and-away campaign.
Cameron, who kicked a career-best 11 goals against North Melbourne in round 20, had four goals to halftime against Port under close attention from Lachie Jones.
The 32-year-old’s tally stands at 75 for the year and he has another three games, plus finals, to become the first player since Hawthorn’s Lance Franklin in 2008 to kick 100 in a season.
“Trying to put myself in that position, I’d be a bit enthused around the idea,” Scott said.
“My sense is that it’s still so far off. Like, he’s going to have to play a few finals, which is a long way from a guarantee for us.
“I think we’re a better team when he has the ball but there is a line there where if we’re choosing him over better options then we’d need to address it.
“I’m not seeing it too much, but they’re clearly looking for him.”
Cameron benefited multiple times when teammates handed off the ball from positions where they could have taken shots at goal themselves.
“There are certain positions on the ground where him snapping the ball on his left (foot) is a higher percentage than one of the best kicks in our team on their right,” Scott said.
“I’m happy for him to get the ball in that situation.”
Max Holmes (35 disposals, two goals), Bailey Smith (30 touches, eight clearances) and Gryan Miers (30 disposals, one goal) also stood out for Geelong, who kicked 20 goals to Port’s six after quarter-time.
Irish tagger Oisin Mullin limited Port star Zak Butters to just 10 disposals and Cats substitute Jack Martin kicked four goals in a superb third-quarter cameo.
The only concern for Geelong was Tom Stewart’s high contact on Ollie Wines, which will be scrutinised by the AFL match review officer.
Stewart jumped off the ground in an attempt to smother a Wines handpass and landed on his Power opponent.
But Stewart’s act did not appear malicious and he immediately showed concern for Wines, who was able to play out the game.
Wines (32 disposals, eight clearances) and Travis Boak (24 touches, one goal) fought hard for Port, who lost captain Connor Rozee (illness) as a late withdrawal.
Jase Burgoyne was subbed out with an ankle complaint, adding to the Power’s injury woes, while Mitch Georgiades finished with three goals.
“All this considered, it wasn’t totally unexpected that we’d battle our way through a game down here against Geelong,” Port coach Ken Hinkley said.
“It was a full-strength Geelong against clearly an undermanned team that we took out there.
“But I thought the boys hung in there as much as they possibly could for most parts of the game.
“Geelong had that dominant third quarter with nine goals and outside of that we weren’t too far off probably what most people would’ve expected.”
