Senior Charlie Cameron (2017-)

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One hell of a scare from Charlie
The hearts of the Brisbane coaching staff and every Lions supporter was firmly in their mouths for five minutes in the final term when Charlie Cameron limped off with a knee injury. The All Australian forward landed awkwardly in a marking contest and thumped the ground with his fist in frustration as he rolled around holding his left knee. After gingerly jogging off and having it strapped, Cameron returned to the field to huge applause from the 11,061 spectators. He finished the game on the bench with the knee iced.
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Be patient when Daniher arrives: Cameron

Exhilarating Brisbane Lions forward Charlie Cameron has preached patience to those who expect Joe Daniher to have an immediate impact on the club's forward line, saying it always takes time for recruits to find their feet.

Daniher nominated the Lions as his preferred destination last week however as a restricted free agent the Bombers have the option of matching their offer and forcing a trade.

Cameron, who kicked three goals in his first match with the Lions in 2018, after crossing from Adelaide, said it takes at least four to five matches before a new arrival clicks on field with his teammates but once that happened he expected Daniher to be a major asset.

Just four months older than the Lions speedster, Daniher has kicked one more goal in his career having played 18 fewer matches than Cameron who plays the game with flair and energy.

"[The] transition will take a little while but if the trade does work out I think he will slot in pretty well," Cameron said.

"It doesn't just happen right away. It will probably take four or five games but once you get that chemistry together it will just happen."
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Cameron, who is on track to be the Lions' leading goalkicker for the second season in a row after 57 goals in 2019, thinks Daniher's experience will be invaluable too.

"We have a lot of people rotating through the forward line, a lot of younger players coming through, so I guess for him to have that experience it will be good," Cameron said.
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Charlie Cameron kicked five goals in 2017 preliminary final and is out for a repeat performance for Brisbane this weekend

Brisbane Lions star Charlie Cameron knows the entire football world is watching and has no choice but to play well in Saturday night’s preliminary final showdown with Geelong.

Cameron is just one of four Brisbane players with preliminary final experience among the expected Lions outfit shooting for a place in a historic home Grand Final.

“I’ve got to perform because everyone’s watching,” Cameron said this week.

“There’s a lot on the line at the moment. If you lose you’re out, but we’re confident.”

Finals confidence isn’t an issue for Cameron, who starred for the Adelaide Crows in their 2017 preliminary final win over Geelong at the Adelaide Oval.

Cameron kicked five goals that night as the Crows crushed the Cats by 61 points, driven by the opportunity every footballer craves.

“We know what’s up for grabs. The boys are ready to go and just itching to play, but we’ve got to stay calm and be patient,” Cameron said, explaining what’s needed to again beat Geelong on Saturday.

Cameron wasn’t nearly as productive when Geelong beat Brisbane by 27 points at the SCG in July, kicking just a single goal and a couple of behinds.

Contained by much-improved Cats defender Mark O’Connor on that occasion, Cameron expects the Irishman from County Kerry to be his opponent again this weekend.

But this time, Cameron is ready.

“He did a good job on me, but I’m looking forward to the match-up. I did my research last week on him,” Cameron said.

He said the key to getting the better of O’Connor was to drag him up the ground.

“I played a lot deeper in that game (at the SCG),” Cameron said.

“But with Dylan Grimes (in Brisbane’s qualifying win over Richmond) I played higher.”

With success too. Cameron’s performance included three goals from 11 disposals in a massive finals victory for the Lions which showed the AFL world Brisbane is the real deal.

“Against Richmond they threw a couple of punches at us but we responded. We’re not shy even though we’re a young and inexperienced group,” he said.

“We’re looking forward to the opportunity of playing against another good side. We’re not going to shy away from the contest.

“As long as we go out there with the right mindset, as long as we’re switched on and do everything we can to prepare well for Geelong this weekend ... we’re pretty confident.”

Cameron said the Lions’ recent lack of football – they have only played once since their September 19 win over Carlton – would not be a problem.

“We had a good (internal) hitout last Saturday, and we needed that,” he said.

“Obviously it’s high stakes but ... we’re going to go out there and give it our best shot.”
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Move that launched Cameron’s career

Lions sensation Charlie Cameron’s mind often drifts to the places he has been, the family he has left behind and those who have supported his remarkable journey to the biggest stages in football.

The 26-year-old, who is the AFL’s premier small forward, was born in Mt Isa. He grew up on Mornington Island, a small island in the Gulf of Carpentaria where footy was scarcely an afterthought.

While boarding at Marist College in Brisbane, his preferences were baseball and rugby instead of Australian rules.

It was not until Cameron moved to Newman, in Western Australia, that he became enthralled by the Sherrin and he has never looked back in a career that started in Adelaide and has flourished further back in Brisbane.

“I guess for me, as a young Indigenous person, with my family up north in a remote community there, at the bottom of the Gulf of Carpentaria, it is pretty special when all your family are watching games and supporting you. You play footy for them,” he told The Australian.

“For me, growing up on a remote island in north Queensland and then moving down to Brisbane to boarding school, I think it has helped me to mature. Living away from family for the last ten years, from Year Nine to now, you get kind of used to it.

“I have had times when you miss them, when you do miss your family, but you cherish those moments where you are able to see them and I will always do that.”

Similarly to his Lions teammates, Cameron has spent much of 2020 at home in a season where the majority of matches have been played in Queensland.

It is not without its challenges, though sleeping in your own bed is clearly a luxury most footballers have had to forego this season.

Players and staff members are still restricted from regular activities such as sitting in a cafe or restaurant or, in Cameron’s case, heading out into the open land.

“It is more about going camping with family and spending time with them, that was the main thing for me,” he said.

“(I’ve not been able to do that) enough, with the restrictions this year, but I am looking forward to doing it when I am out of the bubble.”

Cameron’s clear priorities at the moment are helping Brisbane’s premiership push, which continues with the preliminary final against Geelong at the Gabba on Saturday night.

The Lion has kicked 29 goals this season to sit in the top ten in the competition, which follows his outstanding 2019 when he booted 57.

He showed promise with the Crows after being drafted from WA with pick seven in the 2013 rookie draft, kicking 87 goals in 73 matches, and has flourished further as a Lion.

Cameron, who requested a trade to the Lions on compassionate grounds in order to be closer to his family, credits coach Chris Fagan, football manager David Noble and former Lion and Bulldog Jed Adcock for helping him elevate his game to the elite level.

“I think, for me, coming from Adelaide and coming off a grand final in 2017 to 2018, everyone was going, ‘Why is he coming here?’. But I think it has helped me grow as a person,” he said.

“The forward line I came from was pretty mature at Adelaide and had a lot of old players around me who helped me, whereas coming here, there are a lot of people younger than me.

“It has helped me to grow as a player and mature as a person, to get better and to try to help make others better as well. I don’t mind that.

“At times, you want to sit back and relax, but people look for you to bring the spark, things like that, so I guess when I go out there and kick goals, it gives everyone a little bit extra.

“I want to get everyone involved, everyone hyped up, everyone excited when I celebrate.”

Cameron, who kicked five goals for Adelaide in a preliminary final against Geelong in 2017, starred in the Lions qualifying final triumph over Richmond when booting three.

Only twice in ten finals has he failed to kick a goal and he is determined to have an impact against Geelong on Saturday night and, should Brisbane prevail, in the grand final.

“I’ve told a few boys that, ‘This is electric. This is why you play footy’,” he said.

“These moments, where you have the crowd behind you, with a lot of people watching because of the big stage, that is why you play footy, these are the moments you play for.

“From where we were when I got here three years ago, when we finished 18th, to finishing 16th, to see the team grow and become … a club where players want to come here, it is pretty special.

“We are going to go out there and give it our all for a lot of people here in Queensland and obviously the people down in Victoria who are supporters of the Lions and the fans around Australia. I’m really looking forward to it.”
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For the Lions, it's Charlie and the Gabba factory

The game quickens when Charlie Cameron moves within striking distance of the football.

His arrival on the scene is akin to watching a toddler disturb a flock of birds.

To hold their poise, opponents need to be quick thinking and calm, qualities that often unravel in Cameron's presence.

The last time he played Geelong at the Gabba - late last year - he kicked five goals. Even Cats coach Chris Scott struggled to assess his influence, such was the rapidity with which he upended his opposition.

That time he had Geelong father-son recruit Jed Bews as his opponent.

On this occasion, with a grand final spot up for grabs, he expects an Irishman who only began playing the game recently, Mark O'Connor, to sidle up beside him after the Geelong defender restricted him to six disposals at the SCG in round six.

"He's a pretty good player. He is a lot taller than me and he is pretty quick," Cameron said.

"I respect him ... he beat me one-on-one. I will take a lot from that game going into this game."

Cameron was born in Mount Isa, grew up in the Gulf of Carpentaria and played rugby league and baseball at school in Brisbane before moving to WA town Newman, where he showed his skill in Australian football.

Adelaide picked him as a rookie after being impressed watching him at Swan Districts but then the Brisbane Lions called and he transferred there in 2018.

He arrived at the club alongside wily Hawthorn legend Luke Hodge as Jarryd Lyons and Lincoln McCarthy lobbed too, starting a train of new arrivals including Lachie Neale, Callum Ah-Chee and Grant Birchall.

Last year the Lions were eliminated from the finals in straight sets but this year their qualifying final victory over reigning premiers Richmond has them within touching distancing of hosting the grand final.

Cameron said the club's rise in 2019 caught him more by surprise than what they have managed to achieve this season.

"A lot of people doubted us this year, [predicting] that we would drop down but we've proven a lot of people wrong and continue to prove a lot of people wrong," Cameron said.

The 26-year-old, who studied to be a mechanic when at Swan Districts, is the fastest car in Chris Fagan's garage now but there is nothing flashy about him off the field. You can imagine him looking as at ease wearing overalls and standing up from under a bonnet. His understated presence is as laid back as Friday afternoon knock-off beers.

But when he grabs the ball the Gabba erupts like it's the final baton change in a 4x100 relay final and Cameron revelled in the experience in the qualifying final against Richmond two weeks ago when he kicked three goals.

"It was pretty electric. I'm just going out and playing footy and having fun," Cameron said.

He says he hopes to be a leader in the forward line but is by no means the only key to the Lions' attack with Cameron Rayner, Eric Hipwood, Dan McStay and Keidean Coleman playing their part.

However, the Cats know from bitter experience the damage Cameron can do after he kicked five goals against them in the 2017 preliminary final when wearing Crows colours. From that point on he has been dangerous.

"I had good games and not-so-good games but I think for me it is just going out there and playing footy," Cameron said.

"What I did against them in the preliminary final about three years ago was just playing footy.

"In the prelim, I guess, I arrived."
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Charlie looks a bit 'temperamental' at times lately. Hes about to get some competition from Cockatoo and possibly Blake Coleman up forward. Competition for spots should get the best out of all of them.
 
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