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Cameron kicks five as Cats thump GWS

3 minute read

Geelong earned their fifth win of the AFL season, coming up with a 53-point victory in Canberra over GWS thanks to five goals from former Giant Jeremy Cameron.

JEREMY CAMERON.
JEREMY CAMERON. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Chris Scott says Geelong's system was on full show at Manuka Oval as the Cats thumped Greater Western Sydney by 53 points.

Geelong were without a recognised ruckman, played without captain Joel Selwood and lost experienced player Jed Bews to a concussion early in the piece, but still completely controlled the Giants in the 12.15 (88) to 4.11 (35) win on Saturday.

That was made possible thanks to an explosive match from Jeremy Cameron, who haunted his former club with three first-quarter goals - all from the same pocket - and finished with five.

He was clearly the most damaging player on field but it was the overall potency of the forward line that impressed Scott most. Tyson Stengle produced another fantastic 20-disposal, three-goal game on his return to AFL footy after spending 2021 at the SANFL level.

"The best teams in history, to my observation, are always the ones that have players where if one doesn't get you the other one will," Scott told reporters.

"(Cameron) came in last year, had a really interrupted pre-season ... we were really looking at this as being the year when we could build that cohesion.

"(Stengle) is really important for us and we brought him in for a specific reason ... it's the support that's been put around him that allowed him to back himself and play with a bit of freedom."

The Cats led from start to finish, with the game effectively sealed in the third quarter before the score blew out in junk time.

The win moved the Cats to 5-3 for the season while it leaves the Giants all but eliminated from the finals race at 2-6.

Outside of Toby Greene goals either side of quarter time the Giants struggled to create scoring opportunities, while a particular wasteful third term that saw them register just four behinds blew any chance of a comeback.

"We were boring at times," Giants coach Leon Cameron told reporters.

"It was a really flat, really flat performance ... we couldn't get that run that we had last week, we couldn't get that flow.

"We made some really poor, silly decisions going inside 50.

"We're disappointed as a footy club, we probably only had three or four winners on the day."

GWS' Jesse Hogan might draw some scrutiny post-game having struck Jed Bews with an elbow pursuing the football early in the contest.

Bews didn't return to the game due to concussion protocols, meaning medi-sub Mitch Knevitt joined Cooper Stephens as Geelong's two debutants for the day.

"I couldn't rate them much more highly to come in and play against those guys and look so composed, I think was a real positive for them as individuals ... but even more so for the system," Scott said.

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