Jeremy Cameron on how he once learnt from Lance Franklin
Jeremy Cameron once watched star forward Lance Franklin to help him learn the art of goalkicking but, as the Sydney derby approaches, the GWS star says he no longer pays any attention to the Swans’ legend.
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Jeremy Cameron learnt the art of goalkicking from studying Lance Franklin — but the Coleman Medal favourite is no longer watching.
The GWS star says the prospect of coming up against Franklin in the Sydney derby doesn’t motivate him, and he will stay in his own bubble as he steadily looks to build his goalscoring tally at the SCG on Saturday night.
After five rounds, Cameron leads the AFL’s goalkicking with 21 and is a $2.75 favourite to take out his first ever Coleman Medal — a gong Franklin has claimed four times.
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Cameron only started playing football as a 16-year-old and was thrust onto the big stage with the fledgling GWS just a couple of years later.
Franklin was one of the players Cameron tried to model his game on during his crash course into AFL football, but he will be paying the Swan scant attention on derby day, indicating he no longer uses big Buddy as a barometer for his own form.
“It doesn’t excite me too much. I don’t really worry about what the other forwards do. I’ll leave that up to Phil (Davis) and all the backmen,” Cameron said.
“In terms of myself growing up and getting into football a bit later, I had to watch these gun players and see how they play and how they lead and what they do and (how) every key forward is different.
“He’s definitely one (I watched). He’s a very unique player the way he moves around the ground and what he can do out there.
“He’s amazing to watch but he doesn’t get me up for games. I don’t really worry about him too much.”
Cameron said he tries not to pay attention to the goal-charts but knows that if he’s hitting the scoreboard, the Giants are going to win more matches than not.
Wayne Carey once predicted Cameron would reach the loftiest heights in the game, but not since his second season in the AFL has the 26-year-old full forward kicked more than 60 goals.
Cameron says his processes are simple.
“It’s not really something I focus on too much. As a key forward you’re there to hit the scoreboard,” he said.
“I’ve been happy with the start. Some games I haven’t been happy but overall I’m building and I want to just keep going.
“I’ll just break the season up into monthly blocks and judge it that way, rather than look at the year as a whole. I really try and break it up into blocks and go from there.”
Cameron has predicted returning forward Toby Greene will be like a caged-lion let loose on Saturday night, after Giants medical staff were cautious with his problem calf injury in order to get him right.
“We know what Toby brings,” Cameron said.
“He’s a very dangerous player and he’s dangerous around goals but he gets involved up the ground as well and can be a link up player.
“We saw him come into the final against the Swans (last year) and play a really good role and he was pretty dominant on the night.
“He’s been itching to come back the last couple of weeks because he has been held back just to get an extra couple of training sessions back in. He really is itching to get back out there.”