Geelong coach Chris Scott has conceded Jeremy Cameron is “going through a bit of a flat spot” after the superstar forward was held goalless by Brisbane’s Darcy Gardiner in a “really strange game.”
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Cameron was rarely sighted in a four-disposal effort at GMHBA Stadium on Thursday night as the Cats fell to the reigning premiers by 22 points in a grand final rematch.
There’s been an added spotlight on the 33-year old as he’s battled through arm and hip issues this season and been slightly down on his brilliant best form.
Speaking after the loss, Scott admitted Cameron wasn’t having his usual influence.
“He’s going through a bit of a flat spot at the moment, there’s no doubt about that,” Scott said.
The Cats coach quipped: “But I do remember getting these questions the week before he kicked 11 (goals). So if he doesn’t kick at least 10 next week I’ll be flat.”
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GEELONG, AUSTRALIA – JULY 02: Jeremy Cameron struggled against the Lions.Source: Getty Images
Scott said only Cameron knew if injuries were limiting him, but “the feedback we’re getting is he’s well and truly good to play” as the club continues to ask quetions of the dual Coleman medallist and club doctors.
“In that context, we are quizzing the medical staff and Jeremy and he’s saying: ‘Look, I’m not perfect, but I’m well and truly good enough to perform’,” the Geelong coach added.
“We tend to give our champions maybe a little bit more room than some others and we’re confident that he’ll find his way through it.
“If he can’t in the short term, then we’ll have a think about how we can help him through it even more.
“It’s a strange situation for us to be talking about given how good he’s been for us.”
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Meanwhile, Scott said the club’s management of Gryan Miers was “complicated” in its bid to get him back to his best after the Cats star’s curious absence following a partially torn ACL in his right knee.
Miers returned from a five-week lay-off in Round 10 before being rested a month later and playing one VFL game since.
“He’s good enough to play, but it is a complicated one and too complicated for me to explain properly in this forum,” Scott said
“He’s just been such a good player for us and really important to the way we play. For one reason or another, he hasn’t quite been at that level.
“So we’re thinking about how we can get him back to that level. There are things I won’t talk about publicly around what we’re thinking, but he’s very much in our plans.
“It’s not that dissimilar to Jeremy, really good players go through flat spots and they’ve got to find a way to work their way through and our role is to help them as much as possible with that.
“I wouldn’t read too much into that one with Gryan.”
It came after Geelong was rarely leaky in Thursday night’s game including conceding eight goals to Brisbane in the first term to see the hosts trail by as much as 43 points.
That proved a bridge too far for Scott’s men to overcome, despite fighting their way back into the game, with the Geelong coach lamenting the way they “fed” Brisbane’s game.
“It was a really strange game. To give up eight goals in the first quarter was obviously disappointing. We fed their game way too much,” he said.
“They were able to score from out turnovers in the back half, which is a bit uncharacteristic.
“But made even worse when you go in understanding if you give them goals, they’re going to kick some goals that are hard to stop anyway.
“That combination is the way it played out early. They really took their chances, too, their kicking for goal was really good, ours was poor.
“It was a strange game in that, I don’t know the numbers, but probably for more than 50 per cent we were in control of it.
“And either couldn’t take our chances when we generated them, or allowed them back into the game with some basic errors.”
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The Cats have now dropped four of their last five games to get leapfrogged by Brisbane in the top four.
While Geelong is still in the premiership hunt, it could drop to as low as eighth by the end of the round, pending other results.
But Scott wasn’t getting too caught up in his side’s form line after a tough run including narrow losses to Fremantle, Adelaide and an improved Carlton.
“I think the fixture is quirky. I think most in the media are good enough to have a look at what those games actually were… context is important,” he continued.
“But we still think we’re going well enough to beat anyone, anywhere.”
Scott added that he “came to the conclusion a long time ago that looking at the ladder is a bad idea” because it’s “strange”.
“You can’t focus on the next month or two, because some teams have good draws, other teams don’t,” he said.
“As I’ve said a number of times I wish it wasn’t this way. And some people push back on this idea that, gee luck plays a role in the game these days.
“You could play one team twice just when they’re going horribly, and it’s like, that’s just luck. Or you can run into some hot teams who have been a bit up and down.
“It’s just not the way we think about it. If we should have won four or five in a row — especially games we think we probably should’ve won — we wouldn’t be sitting here going: ‘That means we’re flying’.
“We like to think we’re a little more nuanced with our assessment of it.”