Stewart hamstrung, Cameron on fire as Cats crush Eagles

[Pelican Press 0]

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Stewart hamstrung, Cameron on ***** as Cats crush Eagles

Geelong have lost star utility Tom Stewart to hamstring “tightness” as they locked away a top-four spot on the AFL ladder with a 93-point annihilation of West Coast.

Chasing a huge margin to sneak provisionally into second place, the Cats produced an utterly dominant first half in the 26.12 (168) to 11.9 (75) victory at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday.

But it wasn’t quite enough for Chris Scott’s side to leap above Port Adelaide ahead of Sunday’s fixtures, which will decide the final starting grid for September.

Geelong spearhead Jeremy Cameron took advantage of West Coast’s undermanned defence to kick an equal career-best nine goals, including seven from as many kicks in the first half as the margin ballooned to triple figures before the main break.

It was the equal-biggest individual haul of any player this season and moved Cameron from equal-fifth to second in the Coleman Medal race behind runaway leader Jesse Hogan.

Ollie Henry also kicked an equal career-best haul with four majors, while Max Holmes (26 disposals), Patrick Dangerfield (25), Jack Bowes (24) and defender Jack Henry all shone in the Cats’ biggest win of the season.

Victory came at some cost, with All-*********** defender Stewart substituted out as a precaution at half-time with a tight left hamstring.

Lawson Humphries also sat out the second half with a right calf issue.

Cameron snapped the opening two goals and Geelong rammed through the first seven – three of them to Ollie Henry – to lead 8.3 to 1.1 at quarter-time.

The statistics at that early stage already made horror reading for the visitors.

Geelong had more than twice as many disposals in the first term, scored from 11 of 14 forward entries, and even led the tackle count despite dominating possession.

A 10-goal second quarter gave the Cats an 18.6 to 2.2 buffer at the main break, and second spot was in their sights.

But the Eagles showed some ******, stemming the flow and narrowly outscoring their hosts during the second half.

Young **** Harley Reid (15 disposals) had an embarrassing fresh-air swing on the goal-line in the final term, but responded with two late goals.

Jake Waterman, Jack Darling and Jamie Cripps also finished with two each, while Elliot Yeo (25 disposals) and Tim Kelly (21) were the Eagles’ best ball-winners in a midfield that was comprehensively outplayed.

The result was West Coast’s 10th consecutive defeat at Kardinia Park, where they have a horror record of just one win and a draw in 16 appearances this century.

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#Stewart #hamstrung #Cameron #***** #Cats #crush #Eagles

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