Port Adelaide’s finals hopes could rest on stopping Jeremy Cameron and that job will fall to Tom Clurey
If Port Adelaide are to keep their finals hopes alive, a Power defender must step up to one of the biggest challenges of his career and stop the Giants’ goal scoring machine, Jeremy Cameron.
Tom Clurey is poised to be handed one of the biggest challenges of his career, with Port Adelaide's finals hopes possibly resting on his shoulders at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
After being soundly beaten by Richmond’s Tom Lynch (3.4 19 disposals) at the MCG on the weekend, the usually rock solid Clurey is likely to be given the giant task of containing Coleman Medal leader Jeremy Cameron in a game the Power must win to remain a realistic chance of playing in September.
Cameron heads the AFL’s goalkicking ladder after 18 rounds, with 54 — eight clear of closest rival Ben Brown from North Melbourne — and bagged six majors, including three in the first quarter, in a best-afield performance to propel GWS to a stunning 47-point win against fellow top-four aspirant Collingwood on Saturday.
Now he has the Power — sitting just outside the top eight after consecutive losses to Brisbane and the Tigers — in his sights.
“Jez (Cameron) is always a big threat,’’ Port backline coach Brett Montgomery said.
“I was fortunate enough to work there (at the Giants) in the past 12 months and see him first hand.
“He is a beast of an athlete, covers the ground well and has some great support around him now, so it will be tough.’’
Hard-leading left-footer Cameron is on track to break his career-high of 63 goals in 2015 and in his 17 games this year is averaging career-bests for goals (3.2), disposals (16) and marks (7).
He has kicked three or more majors 12 times.
Clurey has a strong record on Cameron, having restricted him to two goals in their two head-to-head match-ups — in round 18, 2016 and round 4, 2017.
Montgomery suggested he was the logical match-up for a player he coached as an assistant at GWS last year but that co-captain Tom Jonas was another contender.
“Without having a really close look at the game on the weekend, where he got to and what part of the ground he was roaming, I’d imagine he (Clurey) would see a fair portion of time on him,’’ Montgomery said.
“But Jonas has a great track record on the guys who want to get up and move and Jeremy’s a mover as a forward, so we’ll have a close look at that.’’
While Cameron looms as the Giants’ major goalscoring threat, his key forward sidekicks Jeremy Finlayson and Harry Himmelberg are no slouches.
Champion Data has Finlayson ranked as elite for a key forward and Himmelberg as above average.
Finlayson has kicked a career-high 31 goals this season and is averaging six marks while Himmelberg has bagged 30 majors and dished out 24 goal assists.
“They’ve got some really good young forwards around him (Cameron) that get the job done, it’s a different forward line, a taller forward line, formidable,’’ said Montgomery.
“And they found their groove on the weekend.’’
While GWS has three players with 30 or more goals this season, Port’s struggles are illustrated by its leading goalkicker being classy first-year utility Connor Rozee with 20.
Small forward Sam Gray sits second with 18 and midfielder/forward Robbie Gray is third with just 14.
Cameron has kicked more goals by himself than those three combined.
The Power’s No. 1 forward target Charlie Dixon has kicked six goals in five games since returning from a badly broken leg suffered last year.
“We are fully aware that we have to work pretty hard for our scores and we need to find easier and more obvious avenues to goal, some method that supports an efficient style so we don’t have to work so hard to get that winning score,’’ Montgomery said.