Cats take huge win over Bombers to start season, Cameron under injury cloud

Geelong Cats v Essendon Bombers, AFL 2022 round 1, Ben Jensen GEELONG opened their season with a 66 point win over Essendon, after leading by 77 points at three quarter time, but key forward Jeremy Cameron who was substituted after a heavy collision with Bomber Jayden Laverde, each suffering injured hips (refer video below). Laverde played on while Cameron, who had kicked two early goals, was substituted by Francis Evans and eventually taken to hospital.

The Cats’ three hundred game full forward Tom Hawkins and new recruit Tyson Stengle shared four goals each while Brad Close, Max Close and Cameron helped themselves to two each. It wasn’t a great day for the Bombers but Nic Martins five goals and 27 possessions in his first AFL game gave them some hope of the season not being a total write-off. Along with Hawkins it was another seasoned campaigner Patrick Dangerfield running amok in the first half, with over 20 possessions, helping his side to the ten goal half time lead. The Cats took their foot off the pedal in the final term, a sensible move in the heat of the day, happy with a ten goal win.

Geelong has plenty of players waiting in the wings for next week’s journey to the SCG; where the Lance Franklin one thousand goals countdown will continue. Players such as Quinton Narkle were fit to play but not selected while Jack Henry, Sam Menegola and Jed Bews are pressing to be available from injury. Mitch Duncan, Gryan Miers and Mark O’Connor may be absent another week or two. Cameron has been cleared of ‘serious damage’ and returned home last night but is in doubt.

Jayden Laverde and Jeremy Cameron both off the ground after this nasty collision.

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AFL 2022 ROUND ONE
ESSENDON BOMBERS V GEELONG CATS
SATURDAY 19 MARCH 2022, 14:10 AEST
MCG

GEELONG CATS: 7.5, 12.9, 17.14, 20.18 (138) DEFEATED
ESSENDON BOMBERS: 2.1, 3.3, 6.3, 11.6 (72)

GOALS
GEELONG CATS: Hawkins 4, Stengle 4, Cameron 2, Close 2, Holmes 2, Dangerfield, Dahlhaus, Tuohy, Higgins, Guthrie, Evans
ESSENDON BOMBERS: Martin 5, Wright 2, Caldwell 2, Smith, Cutler

BEST
GEELONG CATS: Dangerfield, Stengle, Hawkins, Parfitt, C.Guthrie, Selwood
ESSENDON BOMBERS: Martin, Merrett, McGrath, Parish, Caldwell

INJURIES
GEELONG CATS: Jeremy Cameron (hip pointer)
ESSENDON BOMBERS: Jayden Laverde (hip), Kyle Langford (hamstring)

CHANGES
GEELONG CATS: Nil
ESSENDON BOMBERS: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
GEELONG CATS: Sir Francis Evans (replaced J Cameron in second quarter)
ESSENDON BOMBERS: Tom Cutler (replaced Kyle Langford in first quarter)

REPORTS
GEELONG CATS: Nil
ESSENDON BOMBERS: Nil

CROWD: 54,495 at MCG, Melbourne

PREDICTIONS
Ben – Cats 52 points
Oscar – Cats 7 points
Cassie – Cats 28 points

UMPIRES
FIELD Simon Meredith, Cameron Dore, Andrew Heffernan EMER: John Howorth
BOUNDARY Shane Thiele, Adam Coote, Sean Moylan, Tim Lougoon
GOAL Mark Ensbey, Steven Piperno EMER: Michael Craig

GEELONG CATS – SELECTED SIDE
B: J Kolodjashnij, S De Koning, J Henry
HB: Z Tuohy, T Stewart, M Blicavs
C: M Holmes, C Guthrie, I Smith
HF: T Stengle, E Ratugolea, B Parfitt
F: J Cameron, T Hawkins, S Higgins
FOLL: R Stanley, P Dangerfield, J Selwood
INT: Z Guthrie, L Dahlhaus, B Close, T Atkins
EMER: C Stephens, F Evans, Q Narkle, C Whyte

ESSENDON BOMBERS – SELECTED SIDE
B: J Stewart, J Laverde, J Kelly
HB: N Hind, J Rdiley, D Heppell
C: A McGrathm Z Merrett, N Cox
HF: A Perkins, K Baldwin, D Shiel
F: B Ham, P Wright, D Smith
FOLL: S Draper, D Parish, K Langford
INT: J Caldwell, M Guelfi, N Martin, M Redman
EMER: T Cutler, A Phillips, B Hobbs, A Francis