Jezza’s absurd 11 in Roo demolition; Clarkson avoids ‘hysteria’ of result; security questions North fan

Jeremy Cameron has tightened his grip on a second Coleman Medal with a career-high 11 goals on a night a Marvel Stadium security officer questioned a North Melbourne fan about comments allegedly aimed at Bailey Smith.

Cameron began the night by booting Geelong’s opening three goals, and finished with a bag, as the Cats strode to a 101-point win – 22.18 (150) to 7.7 (49) – ensuring they remain firmly in contention for at least a top-four finish.

The silky left-footer claimed his maiden Coleman Medal in 2019 with GWS. He began this round with a competition high 58 goals, 11 ahead of Port Adelaide’s Mitch Georgiades, and will be difficult to catch from here.

What a night: Jeremy Cameron.Credit: Getty Images

“I hate talking about myself … I always say I am a product of players up the field. We are building as a side – it’s great the way the ball is coming in,” Cameron told Fox Footy.

“You have got to play your best forward from now on in.”

Coach Chris Scott praised Cameron, but also pointed to the evenness of the Cats’ forward line.

“I think it’s clear to everyone when the ball is in his hands, and right from the start he looked sharp. He took his chances early and was dangerous all night,” Scott said.

Smith was also dominant with an equal career-high 43 disposals, including 13 clearances, but found himself on the end of alleged comments from a Roos supporter in the first term.

A security officer approached the man at quarter-time.

The fan, sitting a few rows back from the boundary fence, had a smile on his face during the discussion, and seemed to plead his innocence. He was allowed to stay at the venue.

“You can have a yell, as long as it’s not obscenities or anything,” AFL great Dermott Brereton said on Fox Footy during the commentary.

“It didn’t bother Bailey Smith, although it did actually take his mind from the game and engage the fan.”

A Cats spokesman said he was only aware of the incident through the game broadcast, but it didn’t appear to be a major issue.

Smith had a game-high 11 disposals in the first term, and a whopping 25 by half-time.

Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson defended his decision to not tag Smith in a half-time interview with Fox Footy.

Alastair Clarkson speaks to his group.Credit: Getty Images

“We want to try and back ourselves in. Our guys are still learning the game. We have got some young guys in there, and we want to give them some exposure. If you go chasing him too much, it just buggers up your structure and that sort of stuff. We’ll see how we go. He was pretty dangerous in that first half,” Clarkson said.

However, Collingwood great Nathan Buckley, in commentary on Fox, questioned Clarkson’s comments, pointing out the Kangaroos’ midfield featuring Luke Parker, Luke Davies-Uniacke and skipper Jy Simpkin was not young.

Smith was not tagged in the second half.

Fellow Cats midfielder Max Holmes enjoyed another superb game, while Tom Atkins was also influential on a night the Cats had a competition season-high 77 inside 50s.

So dominant were the Cats that Patrick Dangerfield was subbed off, while Jack Martin was largely rested in the final term.

The Cats booted 10 straight goals from midway through the first term until Cam Zurhaar ended the run in the shadows of half-time.

North was no match for Patrick Dangerfield’s Cats.Credit: Getty Images

The Kangaroos, missing injured key forward Nick Larkey (knee soreness) and ruckman Tristan Xerri, battled hard early but fell apart amid the Cats’ pressure. This was their 14th straight loss to the Cats.

Clarkson and his men have only four wins and a draw this campaign, the Kangaroos appearing destined for another bottom-two finish for a sixth-straight season.

Clarkson, nearing the end of his third season in charge, hasn’t been able to lift a club that has had its fair share of high draft picks. Colby McKercher had 32 disposals for the Kangaroos, while Parker had 31.

But he pointed to the disparity in experience between the Roos and the Cats.

“I think Jeremy Cameron probably had more games on his own than the collective group of North Melbourne defenders that made up our back seven,” Clarkson explained of the Cats spearhead, who booted a career-high 11 goals from 18 kicks.

“I think most of Jezza’s goals that he scored were off a turnover from us and you can afford to roll the dice a little bit like that when they were moving the ball so well, but most of those came from a turnover from us.

“We knew going into the game that clearances and contest were going to be critical for us, and that was obviously going to be really hard without ‘Big X’ [Tristan Xerri], our ruckman.

“But we still backed ourselves in that if we could be OK in contest and clearance we’d be in the game, knowing full well that they’ve got one of the most formidable and dangerous forward lines in the competition.

“The contest in the middle of the ground was just so critical for us and they were too good in that space.”

Clarkson said the Roos wouldn’t get caught up in the “hysteria” surrounding results.

“We’ll continue to give exposure to our players - what we don’t want to get caught up in is the hysteria around results,” he said.

“We know where we are as a footy club, and right at the minute our depth is being tested.”

Clarkson also defended his club’s decision to trade away their 2025 first-round pick to Richmond last year, given the Roos are currently 17th on the ladder – behind the Tigers.

“We rated young [Matt] Whitlock really, really highly and so our list management team made a call on that last year,” Clarkson said.

“It’s just horses for courses – there’s not a club in the competition that get it right all the time, and there’s some that... everyone would applaud our list management team for getting Nick Larkey right – he was pick 75 [selected at No.73]. Where’d he come from? Luke Breust was a rookie [selection at Hawthorn].

Chris Scott’s Cats are in ominous form.Credit: Getty Images

“There’s always hits and misses, but that’s the game that you play - you roll the dice, and we’ll see where that rolls with us.”

The Cats enjoy arguably the softest run to September of finals aspirants, but Scott has said his team will be prepared for the battles which await later in the year.

“My observation is, the top eight teams at the moment would all think they could beat each other on their day. We understand that we don’t have much room to move with the way that we play,” Scott said.

“We definitely should be exploring how we can get better. It’s a matter for us of cohesion rather than searching for something outside the box. We are not over-confident by any stretch, but we do think when we get our game going, we present some challenges for the opposition.

“We didn’t feel like we have been great over the last month or so, so they [Kangaroos] kicked a few late, but defensively we looked more solid.”

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Adelaide slipped and sloshed their way to the top of the AFL ladder, slaughtering Port Adelaide by 98 points in the wildest, wettest and most lopsided showdown ever – 20.13 (133) to 5.5 (35).

Persistent and torrential downpours pelted Adelaide Oval all night, but the Power’s biggest bath came on the scoreboard, publicly humiliated by their arch rivals for four full quarters.

Adelaide’s start was powerful and their finish absolutely merciless, trouncing Port 8.2 to 0.2 in the fourth quarter as they clearly had their sights set on the first triple-figure victory in the derby’s history.

Dominant Crows star Riley Thilthorpe.Credit: AFL Photos

They ultimately had to settle for the heaviest-ever margin of victory between the clubs, while restricting the Power to the lowest score by any side across the 58 showdowns played since the rivalry launched in 1997.

Big Riley Thilthorpe was a beast in treacherous conditions not necessarily considered to his liking, seeing off a throng of opponents – including Aliir Aliir, Ollie Lord and Miles Bergman – to rack up three goals, a personal-best six clearances, 10 score involvements and a well-deserved showdown medal.

The Crows leapfrogged Collingwood to first position and ruthlessly rubber-stamped their genuine premiership credentials.

The only negative for Adelaide was a hamstring injury to defender Max Michalanney, who was subbed out in the third term.

It was a sad way for Ken Hinkley to finish his affiliation with SA’s iconic derby, his record-breaking 25th and final Showdown as coach easily his and his club’s worst.

Miles Bergman’s brainfade early in the clash when he kicked the wrong way from clearance.Credit: Fox Footy

The omens weren’t great for the Power from the opening bounce – the match getting off to the most extraordinary start when Miles Bergman, who started in the middle tagging Jordan Dawson, read Reilly O’Brien’s tap and pumped the ball deep inside-50 at the Cathedral end.

The only problem was that Port were kicking to the River end.

Adelaide couldn’t make Bergman pay straight away for his brainfade, but it didn’t take them long to put the Power to the sword, completely dominating the first quarter in every department.

The Power dragged the margin back to five points at quarter-time with three straight goals in the last three minutes, but they were forced to wait until time-on in the third when they registered two more majors in as many minutes.

Those five goals were the only ones Port kicked all evening.

In the meantime, Jake Soligo relished the wet and was in the thick of everything, while Sam Berry booted arguably the best two goals of his life.

Taylor Walker and Ben Keays bagged three apiece and James Peatling again showed why he is one of the off-season recruits of 2025.

‘We don’t wave the white flag’: Hinkley

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley denied suggestions his players threw in the towel as the margin ballooned out to the club’s heaviest loss since 2011 and comfortably the biggest of his tenure.

“We don’t wave the white flag, but I get the question based on the margin at the end,” said Hinkley, who finishes with an 11-14 record in showdowns.

“It’s definitely a sign of where the two teams are.

“Clearly, one team is on top of the ladder tonight and the other team is battling to get to the line each week for a few different reasons.

“At this time of the year when things go against you, no one gives up or stops trying, but it can look a little bit like that.

“It just looks like every mistake has got a bad outcome on it.

“Other than the first quarter, we were never in the game.” 

For Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks, it was the stuff dreams are made of.

“Dreams can be as wild as you want them to be,” he said. “We were just so clean and ruthless in the contest, we tackled as well as I’ve ever seen us tackle.

“You dream about performances like that.

“It was one of those nights you dream about.”

There’s still time left, but Riley Thilthorpe appears to have the Showdown Medal in the bag.

He started the fourth quarter with a strong mark on the lead from a lace-out pass from Darcy Fogarty, before extending Adelaide’s lead to a whopping 56 points.

It was Thilthorpe’s third major and his 10th score involvement.

“He’s a monster,” Garry Lyon said on commentary for Fox Footy. “He is just a monster.”

Jeremy Cameron has tightened his grip on a second Coleman Medal with a career-high 11 goals on a night a Marvel Stadium security officer questioned a North Melbourne fan about comments allegedly aimed at Bailey Smith.

Cameron began the night by booting Geelong’s opening three goals, and finished with a bag, as the Cats strode to a 101-point win – 22.18 (150) to 7.7 (49) – ensuring they remain firmly in contention for at least a top-four finish.

The silky left-footer claimed his maiden Coleman Medal in 2019 with GWS. He began this round with a competition high 58 goals, 11 ahead of Port Adelaide’s Mitch Georgiades, and will be difficult to catch from here.

What a night: Jeremy Cameron.Credit: Getty Images

“I hate talking about myself … I always say I am a product of players up the field. We are building as a side – it’s great the way the ball is coming in,” Cameron told Fox Footy.

“You have got to play your best forward from now on in.”

Coach Chris Scott praised Cameron, but also pointed to the evenness of the Cats’ forward line.

“I think it’s clear to everyone when the ball is in his hands, and right from the start he looked sharp. He took his chances early and was dangerous all night,” Scott said.

Smith was also dominant with an equal career-high 43 disposals, including 13 clearances, but found himself on the end of alleged comments from a Roos supporter in the first term.

A security officer approached the man at quarter-time.

The fan, sitting a few rows back from the boundary fence, had a smile on his face during the discussion, and seemed to plead his innocence. He was allowed to stay at the venue.

“You can have a yell, as long as it’s not obscenities or anything,” AFL great Dermott Brereton said on Fox Footy during the commentary.

“It didn’t bother Bailey Smith, although it did actually take his mind from the game and engage the fan.”

A Cats spokesman said he was only aware of the incident through the game broadcast, but it didn’t appear to be a major issue.

Smith had a game-high 11 disposals in the first term, and a whopping 25 by half-time.

Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson defended his decision to not tag Smith in a half-time interview with Fox Footy.

Alastair Clarkson speaks to his group.Credit: Getty Images

“We want to try and back ourselves in. Our guys are still learning the game. We have got some young guys in there, and we want to give them some exposure. If you go chasing him too much, it just buggers up your structure and that sort of stuff. We’ll see how we go. He was pretty dangerous in that first half,” Clarkson said.

However, Collingwood great Nathan Buckley, in commentary on Fox, questioned Clarkson’s comments, pointing out the Kangaroos’ midfield featuring Luke Parker, Luke Davies-Uniacke and skipper Jy Simpkin was not young.

Smith was not tagged in the second half.

Fellow Cats midfielder Max Holmes enjoyed another superb game, while Tom Atkins was also influential on a night the Cats had a competition season-high 77 inside 50s.

So dominant were the Cats that Patrick Dangerfield was subbed off, while Jack Martin was largely rested in the final term.

The Cats booted 10 straight goals from midway through the first term until Cam Zurhaar ended the run in the shadows of half-time.

North was no match for Patrick Dangerfield’s Cats.Credit: Getty Images

The Kangaroos, missing injured key forward Nick Larkey (knee soreness) and ruckman Tristan Xerri, battled hard early but fell apart amid the Cats’ pressure. This was their 14th straight loss to the Cats.

Clarkson and his men have only four wins and a draw this campaign, the Kangaroos appearing destined for another bottom-two finish for a sixth-straight season.

Clarkson, nearing the end of his third season in charge, hasn’t been able to lift a club that has had its fair share of high draft picks. Colby McKercher had 32 disposals for the Kangaroos, while Parker had 31.

But he pointed to the disparity in experience between the Roos and the Cats.

“I think Jeremy Cameron probably had more games on his own than the collective group of North Melbourne defenders that made up our back seven,” Clarkson explained of the Cats spearhead, who booted a career-high 11 goals from 18 kicks.

“I think most of Jezza’s goals that he scored were off a turnover from us and you can afford to roll the dice a little bit like that when they were moving the ball so well, but most of those came from a turnover from us.

“We knew going into the game that clearances and contest were going to be critical for us, and that was obviously going to be really hard without ‘Big X’ [Tristan Xerri], our ruckman.

“But we still backed ourselves in that if we could be OK in contest and clearance we’d be in the game, knowing full well that they’ve got one of the most formidable and dangerous forward lines in the competition.

“The contest in the middle of the ground was just so critical for us and they were too good in that space.”

Clarkson said the Roos wouldn’t get caught up in the “hysteria” surrounding results.

“We’ll continue to give exposure to our players - what we don’t want to get caught up in is the hysteria around results,” he said.

“We know where we are as a footy club, and right at the minute our depth is being tested.”

Clarkson also defended his club’s decision to trade away their 2025 first-round pick to Richmond last year, given the Roos are currently 17th on the ladder – behind the Tigers.

“We rated young [Matt] Whitlock really, really highly and so our list management team made a call on that last year,” Clarkson said.

“It’s just horses for courses – there’s not a club in the competition that get it right all the time, and there’s some that... everyone would applaud our list management team for getting Nick Larkey right – he was pick 75 [selected at No.73]. Where’d he come from? Luke Breust was a rookie [selection at Hawthorn].

Chris Scott’s Cats are in ominous form.Credit: Getty Images

“There’s always hits and misses, but that’s the game that you play - you roll the dice, and we’ll see where that rolls with us.”

The Cats enjoy arguably the softest run to September of finals aspirants, but Scott has said his team will be prepared for the battles which await later in the year.

“My observation is, the top eight teams at the moment would all think they could beat each other on their day. We understand that we don’t have much room to move with the way that we play,” Scott said.

“We definitely should be exploring how we can get better. It’s a matter for us of cohesion rather than searching for something outside the box. We are not over-confident by any stretch, but we do think when we get our game going, we present some challenges for the opposition.

“We didn’t feel like we have been great over the last month or so, so they [Kangaroos] kicked a few late, but defensively we looked more solid.”

Jeremy Cameron has 11 goals; Bailey Smith – so far – has a career-high 43 disposals. So, who gets the three Brownlow Medal votes?

Dominant: Bailey Smith had had another huge outing.Credit: AFL Photos

Eddie Betts, step aside. There is a new sheriff in town. His name is ... Reilly O’Brien.

Adelaide’s lumbering ruckman, the most unlikely conveyancer of a goal-kicking party trick, curled through a superb check-side from the scoreboard pocket before being swarmed by delighted teammates.

Great weather for ducks: Reilly O’Brien gets a kick away.Credit: Getty Images

Sam Berry followed with his second long-range beauty on the run to extend Adelaide’s lead back out to 49 points.

Port Adelaide’s goal drought has finally ended with two majors in two minutes.

Goalless since quarter-time, Jed McEntee’s smart left-foot snap at the 21-minute mark was followed by Mitch Georgiades’ set shot on 23 minutes.

Adelaide’s lead has been trimmed to 37 points and the rain, while still falling, has eased. It will still take a serious miracle for the Power, but this double-strike is a step in the right direction.

Earlier, Port defender Lachie Jones was subbed out with a hamstring issue, soon after Adelaide’s Max Michalanney exited with his own hamstring worry.

Jezza can do no wrong, this time the star Cat shrugs off a tackle from Dylan Stephens in the goal square and snaps an easy goal. He has 11.

Tag team: Patrick Dangerfield and Jeremy Cameron.Credit: Getty Images

Adelaide have pulled the trigger on their sub, with defender Max Michalanney exiting the match with a hamstring injury. Michalanney is the Crows’ only real concern as they have continued to keep their foot on Port Adelaide’s throat.

Riley Thilthorpe has continued to rip the showdown to shreds, soccering through his second stoppage goal, before Jordan Dawson and Taylor Walker stretched Adelaide’s advantage to 48 points, seemingly insurmountable given the slippery, treacherous conditions.

Zak Butters sent a brief scare through the Port Adelaide camp when he came off nursing a sore head early in the third quarter.

Butters copped an errant left knee to the back of his head from a high-flying marking attempt by Jordan Dawson on the members’ wing. The Power’s tough-as-nails vice captain came off in some discomfort before running back onto Adelaide Oval after a short breather.