Jeremy Cameron has 100 goals in his sights, but the milestone chase could make for a Cats’ ‘disaster’

A former AFL coach fears Jeremy Cameron's hunt for 100 goals could trigger chaos in finals. So when could the superstar reach the milestone? And how will the league prepare for it?

Jeremy Cameron’s 100th goal coming in the crucial stage of a final could be “a disaster” for Geelong, former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas has declared, with St Kilda having had a preliminary final derailed when Fraser Gehrig achieved the feat in 2004.

Cameron needs 31 goals to hit the much-hailed century of majors, which has not been reached since Lance Franklin hit in the final round of the home and away season in 2008.

The Cats star sits on 69 goals with four rounds — all against bottom-eight sides — and finals remaining, with the milestone considered within reach by September action.

But Thomas, who was at the helm of the Saints when Gehrig famously triggered a pitch invasion in the 2004 preliminary final against Port Adelaide at Football Park, said whether the century and associated celebrations could go either way for Geelong.

Jeremy Cameron could hit the 100 goal milestone this season. Picture: Michael Klein

“It’ll be a disaster if it does (happen in a decisive final), because there’s genuine fans … it’s all about the state of the game, isn’t it?,” Thomas told this masthead.

“Ours couldn’t have come at a worst time, obviously. We had massive momentum and everything else going our way, and then straight after that Port took the ascendancy for the last bit of that quarter (and won the game by a goal).

“It all comes down to timing.”

The AFL — which was faced with thousands of fans descending on the SCG when Franklin kicked his 1000th AFL goal in 2022, ironically against Geelong — has protocols in place in the case of Cameron reaching the milestone, which would include extra security at the stadium and plans to get the spearhead and other players off the ground quickly and safely, but would discourage fans from entering the arena.

The MCG said on Tuesday that it would work with both Geelong and the AFL to be prepared.

Thomas, who believes the halt in momentum ultimately cost the Saints a spot in the grand final, said the league should employ reverse psychology with fans in a bid to quell them rushing the arena.

“You go the reverse don’t you, and say ‘we want everyone to run on and celebrate the 100 goals’, and people will probably go ‘stuff that, we’re not going to do that’,” he said.

“If they say they plead and beg fans not to run out and all the rest of it, well that’s just an open invitation for everyone to do that. That’s difficult.

“When you’re covering a whole ground, that’s even more difficult. You have fans that are genuine and wanting to celebrate a massive milestone, which we probably didn’t think we’d see again given the way the game is played.

“It’s the other fans that come on for more deliberate reasons to just make things difficult on the day. Depending on the state of the game – if it’s delicately poised, you’ll absolutely have people come out and make a nuisance of themselves.”

He said St Kilda had sought added security to counter ground invaders in 2004 which at the time he says was ignored, and said the plans to secure Gehrig had ultimately caused further issues.

“They had a plan for Fraser to come straight off the ground when he kicked it, but of course they couldn’t get him off the ground before the fans flocked,” Thomas said.

Fraser Gehrig is shepherded off the ground as fans swamp AAMI Stadium after her kicked his 100th goal for the year.

Former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas says the state of the game needs to remain the priority.

“And then when the fans dissipated a bit and they got the fans off the ground, they then ran Fraser off the ground. Which we didn’t really want. It turned one mistake into two, unfortunately. That was just a comedy of errors.”

And he said the era of smartphones added another later.

“One idea when and if it happens is to get (Cameron) off the ground straight away, but I don’t think that works because I don’t think the fans really care about the player,” he said.

“There’s only a dozen or 20 that get close to them and then the rest are three-deep.

“They’re usually surrounded by their teammates, so it’s more people wanting to be on the ground and be seen and remember the moment they ran onto the MCG when Cameron kicked 100 goals 20 years ago – it’s all that sort of stuff.”

Thomas said Geelong would have to acknowledge the chance of the occasion looming and train accordingly for it, citing three scenarios — holding momentum, attempting to wrench back momentum or sustaining an arm-wrestle.

“For each of those you would have some sort of trained outcome for the guys at that point in time. They would all be slightly different,” he said.

And despite his misgivings about what the occasion could hold, he is hopeful that the four-time All-Australian can salute.

“You will have teams that are now going to have strategy around Cameron,” Thomas said.

“Personally, I hope he does for the game and I hope he does for himself. He’s an incredibly good player, and seems like an even better bloke, to be honest.”

Originally published as Jeremy Cameron has 100 goals in his sights, but the milestone chase could make for a Cats’ ‘disaster’