Duff’s Dozen: Mark Duffield takes a look at all the talking points from the AFL’s Round 12

1. Jeremy Cameron Has hit a mid-season purple patch which is being helped by the selfless way Tom Hawkins goes about his footy. When Jez is on, Hawkins gets both dangerous and out of Cameron’s way. It’s a fine balance but they are managing it beautifully at the moment. The Cats kicked seven in the opening term on Friday night to ambush the Dogs, and Cameron kicked three of them before going on to have 18 disposals with six goals and 11 score involvements. He is deadly when he gets the ball and he is getting it a lot. 2. Bailey Smith Massive talent, massive brain fade on the three-quarter time siren when the Dogs had arrested momentum and were back in the game. He got sucked in by Zach Tuohy, headbutted the Irishman, got reported and then was a non-factor in the final term as Geelong steadied and won. Two weeks was about right for the act and the consequences are big for the Bulldogs, who are teetering on the bottom end of the eight with a lot to do to play in September. 3. Taylor Walker He had 22 disposals, kicked three goals and had 10 score involvements against West Coast, and when the Eagles came at the Crows late in the game, it was he who steadied the ship. A couple of his marks on Tom Barrass were uncanny – just shifting Barrass off the drop of the ball and then catching it while grounded. Doesn’t have a contract offer for next year yet. May have one within a few weeks from the Crows as interest builds in the 32–year-old from Brisbane. 4. Luke Shuey and Andrew Gaff You are having a dire year when a 31-point loss to a bottom-six team is a significant improvement, but the efforts of midfield veterans Shuey and Gaff was something the Eagles could take out of this game. Gaff finished with 30 disposals and a goal and won a healthy mix of contested and uncontested possession in his best game of the season. Shuey won 10 clearances in 27 disposals, had 18 after half time and drove a West Coast mini revival that got them within four goals at one point. Long way to go. Something to build on. 5. Stars in the WAFL: The risks and rewards Nat Fyfe had 24 disposals on managed game time and will be better for the run but got mobbed by a crowd at the end which might lead to an anxious wait for a COVID-19 test later in the week. Dom Sheed improved on his first run for the Eagles and is probably ready for an AFL return but Elliot Yeo got himself into a scrap and got reported for striking. There is always risk versus rewards when the stars get game time in the WAFL and clubs can be damned if they do and damned if they don’t use it. 6. Premiers have a problem There were differences in the way that Sydney dismantled Melbourne on Saturday night to how Fremantle did it but there were similarities too. Without Steven May the Dees got terrorised by tall forwards Sam Reid and Logan McDonald, and up the other end, their own tall forwards couldn’t get a kick against the McCartin brothers. Skipper Max Gawn was truly heroic in the ruck and in attack and it still wasn’t enough. Too early to declare a hangover but Melbourne will be watched closely over the next month. 7. No Buddy no problems Reid and McDonald provided the goals and Joel Amartey provided the contests as the Swans more than covered the loss of their superstar forward to suspension. Reid had a remarkable game and kicked three goals from 12 contested possessions with five marks and 10 tackles. McDonald took his chances and also booted three. Reid looked like a star as a youngster in 2012. His career has risen and fallen a bit with injuries and his confidence but this was him at his best and the Dees didn’t cope. 8. Lachie Weller Got a mention last week because of his form and gets a mention this week because of the likelihood that he has suffered an ACL tear and faces a year on the sidelines. It’s a shame for him and the Suns. Gold Coast look set to threaten the top eight for the first time in club history and Weller’s bounce off half back and his incisive ball use was becoming a big part of the push up the ladder. Fingers crossed for a setback-free recovery. 9. North in peril If AFL clubs are cooling rapidly on the idea of a start up team in Tasmania it means they will also be warming to a relocation and North’s current state is putting them in jeopardy. The Kangaroos coughed up 28 inside-50s in the second term, a bewildering number at AFL level, even in tropical Darwin against a partly acclimatised Queensland-based team. Not sure that coach David Noble can survive if this continues and not sure that the Roos can survive in Melbourne if AFL support wavers and other clubs start pointing them at Hobart. 10. Darcy Cameron One of the quiet achievers of the 2022 season and a star in his team’s win against Hawthorn at the MCG. Cameron’s ability to compete in the air and hold up on the ground has become a real asset as he fills Brodie Grundy’s shoes. He had 26 disposals, kicked a goal and won 18 hit-outs as the Pies held on to beat Hawthorn. He won six clearances, had eight score involvements and intercepted Hawthorn half a dozen times. Ruckmen take longer and Cameron’s talent is bearing fruit at 26. 11. Bailey’s I-wish cream Bailey Banfield’s 50th game didn’t start well - he missed a tackle, then dropped a mark - but it finished like a wish come true. He unleashed the best quarter of football he has played in his AFL career with three goals in the third term. He added a fourth in the final term to ensure selectors are going to find it very tough to leave him out now. There was a Bailey down the other end doing a bit of damage too, with Brisbane’s Zac kicking four of his own. 12. Freo’s Mr Fix-Its Griffin Logue can play as a tall or small defender and in the past two weeks has been incredibly valuable as a highly competitive third tall target in attack. He booted two and could have had a third had he not unselfishly left a Trav Colyer kick that was set to split the middle and instead bounced back over Logue’s head. James Aish was the player who clamped Clayton Oliver last week. This week he found the ball 29 times and sent it inside attacking 50 six times. He was the perfect foil to dominant mids Andy Brayshaw and Will Brodie.