Why Cornes 'hated' Cameron's positional change

Kane Cornes has criticised the Cats' decision to play Jeremy Cameron up the ground, believing it could limit their hopes of a premiership.

In his second match after returning from a left AC joint injury, last year’s Coleman Medallist started in defence before playing a variety of positions across the field, with the superstar forward only managing one disposal in Geelong’s forward 50 while only amassing nine for the game.

Whilst Cameron’s performance had little bearing on the result as the Cats ran away in the second half to secure a 33-point victory over Carlton in the elimination final, the 300-game legend for Port Adelaide was not a fan of the positional change.

“I hated the way they made him play last night,” Cornes told SEN’s Crunch Time.

“It looks as though they've almost prioritised (Jay) Polkinghorne over Jezza and started at halfback and wing and sort of floating really.

“For me, I didn't like it. This guy's kicked 775 goals, he's kicked 38 finals goals, and if I'm Fremantle next week, I hope he's up the ground.

“I hope he's in the back half. I don't think they can go very far if Jeremy Cameron's playing across halfback and on the wing.”

Former West Coast coach Adam Simpson did agree with Cornes’ point that Geelong shouldn't use Cameron like this in future.

But noted that the Cats had been clinical when getting the ball inside 50 without him, which could have impacted Chris Scott’s decision-making.

“The Geelong forward line went at 65% scoring efficiency,” Simpson said.

“So, 65% of the time it went inside 50, they scored, which I think the world record is 75% for a game. If you're going at mid-forties, that's AFL average.

“Maybe it was just a last night thing, but (with) how dangerous they were in the front half, I suppose you get there at halftime or three-quarter time and you're going, ‘Well, we don't need him in our forward line at the moment’.

“I think they might next week, and you never know; the week after they keep progressing, and maybe this is just a precursor to what might happen down the track.

“But you're right, I think you mentioned last night his two possessions in the front half, that's not really getting the best out of him.”

Later in the show, Cameron joined SEN’s Crunch Time explaining that Friday night’s showing was not his best.

But he acknowledged given his extended absence, the ability to get some time on the field and build his match fitness up was helped by the positional changes.   

“I'd be the first to admit that it probably wasn't the best performance for myself,” Cameron elaborated.

“Sometimes out on the wing, it can be stuck on the other side, and you don't see much of it, and we probably could've used it a lot better in the first half as well.

“That was a little bit frustrating, personally, but getting back into it and missing a fair chunk of footy, we've spoken about it over the last month or so, that I'm probably gonna need to get up and back and get some run in the legs and feel good out there.

“It's been no secret that I've been sort of managing a few injuries as well. I'm sure I'll nudge further, closer to goal in the coming weeks and play my part.

“But we've got a lot of guys that can play different roles, and I think that's important and Scotty likes to throw the magnets around.”

The Cats now face the ladder-leading Dockers at Optus Stadium in a semi-final clash.

The date and time for that match are yet to be confirmed.

The winner of that game would face Sydney in a preliminary final.