Jeremy Cameron column: Our first Mother’s Day and why a debut is special

Before Mother’s Day, Geelong superstar Jeremy Cameron reflects on how his mum, Kelly, put in the hours to get him to the top.

A fresh-faced Jeremy Cameron before his debut, speaking with Kevin Sheedy and Stephen Coniglio.

Playing your first game really is a dream come true.

You work towards it as a kid your whole life and I’m pumped to see young Jhye Clark step out for the first time on Friday night in a big game against Richmond.

Jhye has quietly worked really hard since he was drafted and was talked about a fair bit being a high pick last year but he has shown how hard he can be at the ball.

Jeremy Cameron flies high on debut.

I’m looking forward to seeing him go at it against the Tigers.

I can’t remember that much about my debut, maybe that is because I certainly wasn’t special leading up to round 1, 2012 – there were 17 of us playing our first game that week for the Giants against Sydney.

We got done by 63 points that night but it was great to run out and represent the club in our first game.

It takes a little while to get settled in as an AFL player but the next week we went down to Hobart and I managed to kick four goals against North Melbourne and that helped me feel a bit more comfortable.

Jhye Clark will debut against Richmond. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

It wasn’t until the next year that I managed to jag a few more goals and was lucky enough to be All-Australian that I felt like I belonged as an AFL player, so it even if it does take time for Jhye to settle into the AFL, I’m sure he will get there.

It’s a good game for him to have a crack, you can’t undersell Richmond, they can beat anybody on their day so we have to go out and take it right up to them.

We weren’t pleased with the results early in the season but we hoped to get our game going a bit in the first eight weeks and we have shown signs of that, so hopefully we can keep improving on Friday night.

MUM’S THE WORD

The good thing about playing on Friday night is you’re a bit like everyone else and you get the weekend off.

We still take care of ourselves and do the right recovery but it’s great to get a bit of a chance to relax after starting the round and after a few six-day breaks its good to get a bit of a reset.

And it’s great timing this week with Indi’s first Mother’s Day.

Mum helped get me through my junior career.

Unfortunately my mum isn’t in town this weekend so we are planning on getting away to Lorne on Sunday with Macey and hopefully enjoy the weather.

My mum, Kelly, was awesome back in the day getting me to training with North Ballarat Rebels, which was about three-and-a-half hours in the car each way.

There were some very long hours and she was running me around, I have some great memories and it’s good I have been able to repay her a little bit by having a decent career so far.

Originally published as Jeremy Cameron column: Our first Mother’s Day and why a debut is special