Josh Kelly remains confident Jeremy Cameron will stay at the Giants beyond 2020
Josh Kelly knows exactly what Jeremy Cameron is going through. He experienced everything that went with being the hottest free agent in the game in 2018. And there is a key reason he thinks his teammate will stay.
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GWS star Josh Kelly is confident the same club culture that convinced him to knock back rival AFL offers will also keep Jeremy Cameron at the Giants.
Every season, the Giants seem to have one high profile star off-contract and are forced to manage the relentless speculation that comes with it.
This year, it’s Coleman Medal winner Cameron’s turn, and the impact of the COVID-19 crisis is only complicating matters for player and club as the AFL continues to work through what the 2021 salary cap might look like.
Kelly has now twice rejected lucrative offers from Melbourne to commit his long-term future to the Giants, and he has confidence foundation Giant Cameron will do the same.
However, he says GWS would do best to leave Cameron alone to come to the decision in his own time.
“He just has to focus on his footy, that’s all I did; That will all take care of itself in the background,” said Kelly.
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“You don’t want to be bugging him every day about it. Obviously we want him to stay at the Giants. We’re confident that he will.
“We have to let him focus on his football, the same way I did, Cogs (Stephen Coniglio) did – whoever (it is) that’s been out of contract.
“We’re confident we have the culture in place to keep JC around.”
Meanwhile, Kelly has welcomed news that coach Leon Cameron has agreed to a coaching extension, pending the AFL allowing new deals to be signed.
Kelly believes it’s a major boost to the Giants’ hopes of a maiden premiership.
“It’s good to have stability and to have consistency, to know what Leon’s philosophies are,” said Kelly.
“He along with people like Callan Ward and Phil Davis, and the boys before them have really set the culture for our football club,
“He’s doing a great job.”
Kelly also predicted former captain Ward will return for the Giants’ first match after missing almost the entirety of last season with a ruptured knee.
“It’s exciting to see him out there. He’s worked hard the past year. The extra month or two months we’ve had off helped him really prime his body and be in a position to be selected for round two,” said Kelly.
“He’s feeling good, he’s looking good, no doubt having him back up out there and playing alongside him really lifts you because he’s one of those blokes who leads by example and someone you want to play with.”
LEON EXTENSION DONE, NOW ALL EYES ON JEREMY
- Ben Horne
Grand Final coach Leon Cameron has agreed in principle to a new contract at GWS, but it’s unclear when the Giants will be allowed to pop the cork out of the champagne bottle.
As the COVID-19 crisis cuts a swathe through the existing assistant coaching ranks, the impressive Giants boss is the first big name mentor to emerge from the saga with some positive contract news – amid the promise of an extension from GWS.
Cameron coached through last year’s epic finals series run without the security of knowing what his future held beyond 2020.
Despite that pressure, Cameron had his team peak in three consecutive elimination finals, before the final hurdle against Richmond at the MCG ultimately proved too much.
Cameron is technically still in limbo, but he will now be rewarded for his inspired performance with an extension on his current deal, even if the coronavirus fallout has forced the Giants to indefinitely delay any announcement.
The AFL has put a freeze on all contract signings until it determines what financial scope it will give to football departments beyond this season, with an expectation the soft cap for coaches will be cut from $10 million.
“We’ve been coming to that. We said publicly we were absolutely committed to him beyond this year,” said chief executive Dave Matthews.
“We haven’t finalised an agreement with him, because of the changing circumstances. He’s fine. He knows his future is secure. It’ll just be a matter of time.”
Clubs are desperate for the new soft cap to be settled upon as soon as possible so they know what they’re working towards and can plan accordingly with the retention and recruitment of staff.
An AFL spokesman told The Daily Telegraph that the AFL was working towards resolving the issue by the restart of the season.
The Giants aren’t sure when the embargo will lift, but nonetheless Cameron and his playing group can enter their campaign with the confidence and certainty of longer term security.
Captain Stephen Coniglio re-signed last season and Cameron is clearly a coach players want to play under.
Jeremy Cameron is also off-contract beyond 2020, and there is a similar freeze on player signings until the path forward from COVID-19 is made clear.
The Giants still have more work to do on Jeremy Cameron’s contract, but it’s understood talks continued over the COVID break and GWS remain optimistic about locking up their star goalkicking forward.
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A new collective bargaining agreement is being worked through with the players.
There is an expectation that the AFL will cut the football department cap, however, Sydney coach John Longmire has led a chorus of voices pushing the virtues of trying to maintain the size of coaching resources.
There is understanding that the game can only operate under a model it can afford, but there is opposition to the theory being floated by some that the AFL would be better off with smaller football departments anyway.