It goes without saying that it’s always important for any AFL club to draft good talent, but sometimes the most critical talent is the imported talent. The proven product. Like Lions excitement machine Charlie Cameron.
On Saturday, when the Lions host a 2nd v 4th showdown with the GWS Giants at the Gabba at 1.45pm, Cameron will become just the fourth Brisbane ‘import’ to play 150 games with the club.
He will join the illustrious trio of Roger Merrett, Alastair Lynch and Chris Johnson as recruiting gold stars among a list of 33 Brisbane 150-gamers all-time.
And in a sense Cameron is a trailblazer above even Merrett, the long-time Brisbane Bears captain, and Lynch and Johnson, Fitzroy stars who became triple premiership stars in Brisbane.
Cameron is the antithesis of the ‘go home’ factor that for so long has been the scourge of non-Victorian AFL clubs … a Queenslander who came ‘home’.
He did so via a masterful trade prompted by the desire of Queensland-born Cameron to be closer to family after four years and 73 games with the Adelaide Crows.
It was the last step down a long and varied path for the electrifying forward, who was briefly a member of the Lions Academy during his last year at Marist College, Ashgrove.
Born in Mt.Isa and a primary school student on Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Cameron left the Sunshine State as a 17-year-old after finishing his secondary education in Brisbane. He moved with his family to Newman in outback Western Australia and later to Perth-based WAFL club Swan Districts, from which he was drafted to the AFL.
After a stand-off which sent the Cameron deal into the last hours of the 2017 trade week, Brisbane secured his services in exchange for pick #12 in the 2017 National Draft, which the Crows used to secure Glenelg (SANFL) forward Darcy Fogarty.
In a quirky twist, Fogarty will play his 100th game for the Crows this weekend having kicked 151 goals as Cameron plays his 150th game for the Lions after booting 305 goals for the club.
Cameron is one of a group of imports who have been part of the Lions rebuild launched in 2017 under coach Chris Fagan, with Lachie Neale (130 games), the injured Lincoln McCarthy (122), Jarryd Lyons (104), Joe Daniher (89) and Callum AhChee (91), and more recently Josh Dunkley (44) and Conor McKenna (39).
Together the current crop are hoping to do what Lynch and Johnson did with fellow imports Mal Michael, Martin Pike, Brad Scott and Blake Caracella in the Lions’ golden era of 2001-02-03.
This sextet arrived in Brisbane via various means …. Lynch in a 10-year recruiting coup that was ahead of its time, Johnson via the Brisbane/Fitzroy merger and Brad Scott because of a want to play with twin brother Chris.
Pike and Queenslander Michael were targeted on a needs basis, and Caracella headed north after being squeezed out at Essendon by salary cap pressure.
But while Johnson played 205 games with Brisbane and Lynch 186 games, the automatic life membership mark of 150 games has beaten most. Brad Scott played 146 games, Michael 140, Pike 106 and Caracella only 34. Mitch Robinson, a 147-game Brisbane player, and Stefan Martin, who played 133, also fell short.
Cameron, on a streak of 138 consecutive games that is second in the League behind Collingwood’s Jack Crisp at 234, was the 67th of 101 first-time draftees in 2013. He was taken by Adelaide with pick #7 in the rookie draft immediately after Brisbane took Aspley Isaac Conway, brother of Lions AFLW star Sophie Conway, at #6. He didn’t play at AFL level.
Eleven years on, Cameron’s 222 AFL games ranks third in the AFL Draft Class of 2013 behind only Western Bulldogs pick #4 Marcus Bontempelli (236) and Essendon #26 Zach Merrett (226), and ahead of GWS #2 Josh Kelly (210), Carlton #13 Patrick Cripps (203) and North’s #8 Luke McDonald (200).
He’s the leading goal-kicker from that draft with 392, ahead of North Melbourne/Melbourne #47 Ben Brown (360), Melbourne/Fremantle/GWS mini-draft pick Jesse Hogan (332) and Bontempelli (228).
With Geelong’s Jake Kolodjashnij, drafted at #41, he’s played most finals at 19. And having won All-Australian selection in 2019-23, he is one of nine draftees from 2013 to win a combined 18 A/A blazers. The others are Bontempelli (5), Cripps (3), Merrett (3), Kelly (1), Adelaide pick #23 Matt Crouch (1), Sydney/Port #44 Aliir Aliir (1), Port #52 Darcy Byrne-Jones (1) and Hawthorn #56 James Sicily (1).
With 392 career goals, Cameron is poised to become just the fourth rookie all-time to kick 400 goals behind St Kilda’s Stephen Milne (574), Hawthorn’s Luke Breust (544) and Melbourne’s Russell Robertson (428).
And with 305 goals in Lions colours, he is fifth on the club’s all-time goal-kicking list behind Jonathan Brown (594), Daniel Bradshaw (496), Lynch (460) and Jason Akermanis (307).
Having celebrated his 30th birthday on 5 July, Cameron will be Brisbane’s third-oldest 150-gamer behind Lynch (34) and teammate Dayne Zorko, who was 41 days older.
The club’s youngest 150-gamers have been Nigel Lappin and Marcus Ashcroft at 24, and Michael Voss, Jason Akermanis, Simon Black, Luke Power and Chris Scott at 25.
Having worn jumper #42 in his first seven games with Adelaide before switching to the #23, and retaining #23 when he moved to Brisbane, Cameron will play his 216th game in the number worn most often for Brisbane by Justin Leppitsch (222 games) and for Fitzroy by Norm Brown (160).
He is set to displace Leppitsch from 10th spot on the AFL list all-time for games in #23, which is headed by ex-Adelaide champion Andrew McLeod (340) and Hawthorm/Sydney superstar Lance Franklin (333).
The only other 100-gamers in this exclusive group among the extended Lions family were Fitzroy defender Bob Henderson, who played his entire 137-game career from 1953-62 in #23 before serving as assistant-coach to Kevin Rose from 1975-77, and Matthew Leuenberger, who played each of his 108 games for the club from 2007-2015 in #23.
