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Cautious Cats keep Cameron return on hold

Ronny LernerAAP
Geelong forward Jeremy Cameron will miss the Cats' round five clash against the Kangaroos.
Camera IconGeelong forward Jeremy Cameron will miss the Cats' round five clash against the Kangaroos. Credit: AAP

Geelong spearhead Jeremy Cameron will have to wait at least another week before finally making his club debut for the Cats.

Coach Chris Scott described the Coleman Medalist as "a cat on a hot tin roof", such is his eagerness to fully overcome his hamstring injury and play for his new club.

But Scott insisted patience was crucial when it came to green-lighting their big-money recruit.

"He's excited by the prospect of playing for the Cats and that's part of the reason why we want to be really cautious because, it might be a subconscious thing, but we don't want to tempt him to come back before he's absolutely ready," Scott said.

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"I'm as keen as anyone to see him unleashed but we just keep reminding ourselves to be patient.

"He'll play when all of those metrics are met, and we'll overlay the subjective gut feel part of it as well.

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"We're just going to wait until we're absolutely sure, and it might be a late decision, but better being a late mistake."

Scott suggested Cameron might even have to wait longer than a week to play, but confirmed the former Giant wouldn't be making his return through the VFL and would be brought straight into the senior side when deemed fit.

Meanwhile, Patrick Dangerfield and Gary Rohan will return from suspension to face North Melbourne on Sunday and Brandan Parfitt (hip) is a very good chance of joining them as inclusions.

But with Dangerfield back in the side, Scott said that wouldn't necessarily mean Mark O'Connor will return to his usual post in defence after serving as a tagger the last three rounds.

Josh Jenkins is also in the frame to be selected to join Tom Hawkins up forward, having produced strong form in the VFL recently.

"He's been in our thinking and he's probably been a little bit stiff in some respects," Scott said of the former Crow.

Ben Cunnington will feature in North's lineup after successfully having his one-week suspension for bumping Adelaide's Rory Laird in the head overturned by the tribunal.

The action was similar to the one that saw Dangerfield cop a three-week ban, but obviously produced far less serious consequences for the impacted player, with Jake Kelly suffering a concussion and a broken nose in the Dangerfield collision.

While Scott suggested there might have been some inconsistency in the way both Cunnington and Dangerfield were dealt with, the Geelong coach said he was comfortable that the match review system was "working well".

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