Jagga Smith lifts Carlton with 27 touches — Afl Today

afl today, Jagga Smith put himself back into the Telstra Rising Star conversation with a 27-disposal performance against Geelong. He finished with six clearances, six inside-50s and a goal assist in Carlton’s round 12 win.

Jagga Smith at half-time

Smith had already built a match-high 18 disposals by half-time, which forced Geelong to move Oisin Mullin onto him after the break. That shift did not shut him down. Smith still finished with 27 disposals and kept finding the ball in the middle and forward half.

His final-term assist to Brodie Kemp was the cleanest proof that he was still influencing the game when the pressure lifted. Carlton needed that late connection, and Smith delivered it without losing his touch around stoppages.

Geelong’s tag after half-time

Mullin’s role change was the main in-game adjustment, but Smith kept producing even with more attention on him. The six clearances showed he was not just accumulating across the wings. He was winning possession where the game was contested.

The six inside-50s added another layer. They show a teenager who was not simply taking safe touches. He was moving the ball into scoring positions and staying involved in Carlton’s forward movement at a level that stood out in a round built around several strong individual performances.

Rising Star pressure

Smith’s case is being built on more than one outing. He arrived at the Geelong game with 23 score involvements across the previous two weeks, then followed it with another complete performance in a round 12 win that asked Geelong to react to him after half-time.

That keeps him in the frame for the end-of-year Telstra Rising Star award, and it does so with numbers that are hard to ignore: 27 disposals, six clearances, six inside-50s and a goal assist. Carlton got the result. Smith got another resume line that should carry weight when the votes and comparisons tighten later in the season.