Sheepish superstar Jeremy Cameron late to his own party
The Cats were too strong for the young Bombers, recording a comfortable 15.19 (109) to 10.5 (65) win, with Cameron missing some chances and finishing with 4.5 to move to 79 goals for the season.
The Cats superstar came into the clash on 75 goals for the season, miles clear in the Coleman Medal race and with speculation rife he could kick the magical ton this season.
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Cameron himself admitted pre-match there was 'too much focus' on the 100-goal chase, but it clearly wasn't phasing the man from tiny Dartmoor in southwest Victoria.
The 32-year-old sheepishly admitted before the opening bounce he was 30 minutes late getting to the ground as he tended to his farm, which is around 20 minutes outside Geelong.
He then kept the Fox Footy crew waiting for an interview while he took a few more warm-up shots on goal and the commentators tried desperately to fill the time.
Garry Lyon and Jordan Lewis both tried to get Cameron's attention before he finally sauntered over.
'I'll see if I can grab his attention,' Lyon said. 'No, he's having another shot.'
When he did arrive, they couldn't resist some gentle ribbing.
'Jezza we've been padding for five minutes,' Lyon said.
Lewis then chimed in with: 'Mate the game's about to start.'
Once the interview did get underway, the former GWS star was naturally asked about the pursuit of the ton.
'Too much focus I reckon,' he said. 'Everyone asks about it, pretty much everywhere you go, especially the kids and that.
'That's all good fun, but I don't take myself too seriously, sort of try to laugh it off and have fun out there with the boys and that's what I'll be doing again tonight.'
When he was asked about his overall approach, Cameron was true to form when he said with a grin: 'It changes for each individual. I got here half an hour late, which was spot on for me.
'That's how I sort of approach it. I did the last check-up (at the farm), just made sure everything's OK.
'Everyone's got their own prep and from there we're pretty steely focused.'
During a big build-up to a match that wasn't expected to be overly challenging for Geelong against the lowly Bombers, goalkicking great Jason Dunstall talked about the chase for the century of goals last achieved by Buddy Franklin way back in 2008.
'I think he doesn't want to think about it too much, but it's there, front of mind, make no mistake,' Dunstall said.
'When you're a goalkicker you know exactly how many you have, you know what you're chasing and he's not far away.'
Boundary rider Cam Mooney then stunned everyone by picking a big key forward to kick a bag of goals … only it wasn't Cameron.
'I think that man right there is going to be the man tonight,' Mooney said as the camera panned to another big Geelong forward, Shannon Neale.
'He might kick the bag. It's not going to be Jeremy Cameron, I'm sorry guys, it's going to be this man, Shannon Neale.
'Everyone's going to be too interested in stopping Jezza.'
Mooney proved he's somewhat of a Nostradamus as Neale duly kicked the first three goals of the game over the opening 12 minutes.
'Shannon Neale came in as the support act, but he has grabbed the early running,' Gerard Whateley said 10 minutes into the game.
'Two goals for Neale.'
Two minutes later, Neale had his third and Lyon quipped: 'I don't know if Cam Mooney's got the Tatts Lotto numbers, I tell you what.'
'The count is on,' Whateley added. 'Just not the count we were expecting.'
It took until six minutes into the second term for Cameron to finally get his chase moving.
He took a contested mark on a tight angle and had no issue stepping back and slotting goal No. 76 for the year.
'Jeremy Cameron, it's such a beautiful kick, and that's the rise the crowd was looking for,' Whateley said.
Four minutes later he kicked his second from another contested mark with Mooney saying: 'Listen to the crowd.'
Anthony Hudson then stated: 'For a career-best 77 goals, he was late to the game and late to get started, but he's off and running now Jeremy Cameron.
'That is two.'
That 77th goal was one clear of his previous best, the 76 he kicked for the Giants back in 2019.
The Cats took a 27-point lead into the halftime break and Hudson said: 'Eyes will turn again to Jeremy Cameron in the second half.'
Instead, another key forward started to make his mark on the contest.
Bombers youngster Liam McMahon managed one goal in each of the first two quarters and then two more in the third as the 23-year-old continued to give long-suffering Essendon fans some hope for the future.
'Jeremy who?' Hudson said when McMahon slotted his fourth.
The Bombers closed to within three goals in a surprisingly competitive second half without really threatening to pull off the massive upset.
Cameron was able to flex his muscles in front of goal in the final term, kicking two goals in a four-minute period to move to 79.
He had another chance in the dying minutes.
'You felt like he had to get to 80 tonight to be a legit chance,' Whateley added.
'Not just a 'let's talk it up chance'.'
But he pushed the shot across goal, with Dunstall saying glumly: 'Come on Jez.'
The Cameron watch will now move to Sydney for the Cats' match against the Swans next week.
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