AFL 2020: GWS’ strong stance on Jeremy Cameron could change how clubs approach free agency
GWS chief executive Dave Matthews says the Giants’ strong stance on Jeremy Cameron could change the way AFL clubs approach free agency in future.
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Greater Western Sydney chief executive Dave Matthews has called on the AFL to review its contentious free agency compensation system, saying clubs gaining a player should be required to give something up.
It comes in the wake of the Giants being the first club in nine years of AFL free agency history to match a bid on a player, as they forced Geelong into a trade for Jeremy Cameron.
The Cats got their man just moments before last Thursday’s trade deadline when they gave up their first three draft picks 13, 15 and 20 as well as a future fourth round selection, while also getting back future second round picks from GWS and Essendon.
Matthews said he had been buoyed by the support he had received from rival clubs over the Giants’ stance, saying he expected more clubs to match bids from now on.
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But he said the AFL needed to revise its free agency compensation system, saying he believed the club gaining a player should be forced to contribute to any transaction.
“I think it absolutely is worth a review, at least that aspect of it,” Matthews told the Herald Sun.
“The real flaw, if you can use that word, is that I think the club that is receiving the free agent has to be seen to be giving something up.
“I don’t think it is in the interests of equalisation that Geelong take Jeremy (Cameron) for nothing.
“The AFL provides the compensation which muddles up the draft order as well, and then they (the club) get to keep all of their picks.
“That’s a nonsensical outcome.”
If the Giants hadn’t matched the bid for Cameron, they would have had to have settled for a compensation pick of 11, allocated by the AFL.
Matthews said that result would have been unjust for the Giants, and he is certain more clubs will follow suit and start matching free agency bids.
Adelaide and Essendon did not match free agency bids for Brad Crouch and Joe Daniher, accepting the AFL’s free agency compensation offer.
“We really didn’t have any hesitation in matching and I think that has probably benefited the competition,” Matthews said.
“That is some of the feedback I have had from a lot of the CEOs from around the competition.
“They are pleased we matched and pleased they were able to observe a free agency mechanism through a different sort of lens.”
Geelong was disappointed that the Giants matched the bid, but the Cats’ highly-rated recruiting and list manager Stephen Wells was satisfied with the outcome of the trade, saying the two future second picks they received as part of the deal will give them a strong draft hand next season.
Matthews said Wells and Giants general manager of football Jason McCartney worked through for a good deal for all parties.
HISTORY MADE: We've received three first-round picks from Geelong for Jeremy Cameron. #AFLTrades pic.twitter.com/XWWi8LohTf
— GWS GIANTS (@GWSGIANTS) November 12, 2020
The Giants currently have eight selections - 10, 13, 15, 20, 29, 52, 74, 88 - in next month’s draft, but McCartney is looking to package up some of those picks to try and move the club higher up the order.
“That is something Jason is working on,” Matthews said.
Matthews said the loss of Cameron, Zac Williams, Jye Caldwell, Aidan Corr and Zac Langdon was not a sign the Giants were on the slide after a disappointing 2020 season, in which the club missed the finals for the first time since 2015.
He is confident the loss of Cameron - whom he described as the best player in the club’s short history - won’t impact on the players’ psyches.
“Jeremy is a great person and a great player, and we probably ended up getting more than what most people would expect you would get (from a trade),” he said.
“Now, we move on. You take a line from when Lance Franklin left Hawthorn and they won a flag.
“Gary Ablett left Geelong and they won a flag. Brett Deledio left Richmond and they won a flag.
“It (the onus) is right on our playing group to say ‘he was one of our very good players, but it doesn’t mean we can’t still be a good team’.”
BEHIND THE SCENES OF AFL’S BIGGEST TRADE
Jeremy Cameron was shuffling drink coasters around to denote what Greater Western Sydney’s forward line might look like in 2021 with the assistance of his good mate and Giants assistant coach Steve Johnson at Sydney’s exclusive Rockpool Bar and Grill.
One of the coasters represented Cameron.
It was October 14 and as patrons wined and dined at one of the city’s best steakhouses, the Giants were making a final pitch to their free agent.
Sharing the table were Giants chief executive David Matthews and managing director/CEO at Seven West Media, James Warburton.
Part of the conversation centred on what Cameron’s future might look like if he stayed in Sydney. Warburton’s presence also indicated some possible future career options, but the talk was also on a shared love of fishing.
“James (Warburton) has a love of the Giants and he is also very keen on his fishing,” Matthews recounted.
Matthews had been seeking Cameron’s signature for the best part of 12 months.
The Giants had offered him a lucrative seven-year deal as far back as the end of the 2019 season.
There had been many meetings scheduled in 2020 with a slightly shorter term deal on the table, but each time Cameron told the club he hadn’t finalised a decision.
There were plenty of suitors for the 27-year-old, most notably Geelong, who offered a regional lifestyle, a closer vicinity to his former home town of Dartmoor in south-west Victoria and a tempting flag window.
As the high-powered quartet settled in for a few well-earned drinks, Matthews’ eye was taken by Cameron’s discussions with Johnson.
“At one stage after lunch Steve and Jeremy were moving six coasters around, talking about what our forward line might operate like (next year),” Matthews said.
“You start thinking we might still be in the box seat here.”
He dared to think the player he unashamedly described as the greatest in Greater Western Sydney’s short history might once more commit to the club.
THE CONTRACT OFFERS FLOW
Cameron was torn on his playing future throughout a difficult 2020.
Even when he walked off the Gabba after the club’s final game in mid September – his 171st game in orange – he still thought the more likely option was staying.
He loved the Giants, but the lure of a better work-life balance in regional Victoria was tempting.
“I came up here as a 17-year-old and to be honest, I really didn’t want to be in Sydney as a 17-year-old,” he said.
“It took two or three months around guys like Toby Greene and ‘Cogs’ (Stephen Coniglio) to have me settled up here.”
He had committed to the club before, but this was “the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life.”
Geelong loomed as the most serious option, even if the club’s highly-respected recruiting and list manager Stephen Wells had initially been pessimistic.
“There was a time during the year when we sort of moved on from even thinking about Jeremy coming to Geelong,” Wells detailed.
“We had been given an indication he was highly likely to stay (at GWS).
“Five weeks ago our strategy was to probably take three (first round) picks to the draft.”
But when all seemed lost, Wells’ mobile rang.
Cameron hadn’t made his mind up yet.
It was still a waiting game – but at least the Cats were back in the hunt.
GIANT NERVES OVER COOK COMMENTS
Matthews’ confidence levels oscillated throughout October, but a radio interview from Cats chief executive Brian Cook tilted it back in the wrong direction.
Cook told the Sportsday WA: “We’re in the market big time at the moment for Jeremy Cameron.”
Matthews suspected Cook’s words meant Cameron was leaning towards Geelong.
“I thought it was unusual,” Matthews said of Cook’s comments.
“Brian apologised afterwards. I have got enormous respect for the Geelong Football Club ... they are a great club. When he spoke out, I felt it was out of character, which made me think this is where he (Cameron) is likely headed.”
Hub life in 2020 didn’t suit Cameron, or help the Giants negotiating a new deal.
“The hub hurt me in a lot of ways,” Cameron said.
“It was tough being locked down. I hated sitting in a hotel and I sort of got myself into that headspace where I really battled.”
Matthews felt the long period of time in the hub didn’t aid the Giants’ chances of keeping him, given Cameron’s passion for the outdoors.
“(Hub life) is a hard environment to make decisions,” he said.
“If you are wavering about where your future is going to be, and you are stuck under these protocols, it is tough. By his own admission, he had a disappointing year, and I don’t think that suited us.”
BOATING, CAMPING, FISHING
Cameron had many sleepless nights as he and his partner Indiana wrestled with the decision.
He would go to bed convinced he was going to Geelong, then wake up believing he was going to stay a Giant.
The clock was ticking.
So Cameron and his partner packed their swags for a camping trip near Gerroa and Gerringong, just over 130 kilometres south of Sydney.
“I ended up saying to Indi ‘let’s go away for a weekend’ ... that was the day before I told the club,” Cameron said.
“We literally just slept in a swag and spoke about it all night and the next morning driving back to Sydney, I knew.”
On his return, he called Leon Cameron to set up a meeting.
He recalled: “To have (Leon) sit in my lounge room and hear that I’m leaving was very tough and it’s still a bit emotional now.”
His manager, Alex McDonald, called Wells.
As excited as the Geelong master recruiter was, he had to have contingency plans just in case the Giants matched the Cats’ free agency offer.
The deal was $950,000 per season across six years.
“It was a good phone call to get, but we did realise there was still going to be a bit to play out,” Wells said.
Cameron’s decision was made public in the same week as Geelong preparing to take on Richmond in the Grand Final.
But the man who was angling to join the Cats was actually angling for barramundi and missed watching the historic Gabba night Grand Final.
“We were deep, deep in Arnhem Land fishing,” he said.
“I had no (phone) service for seven days. It was about a two and a half (hour) car trip from Darwin, and then we got on a boat that is a 12-hour steam on a big mother ship, towing a couple of little boats behind that we fished from.”
As soon as arrived back in Sydney, he watched the game, which the Cats lost by 31 points.
“The club came so close. I have experienced that (losing a Grand Final in 2019) the year before,” he said.
“I hope that drives everyone on to go one step further next year.”
OFFER MATCHED
It was no surprise when Giants list manager Jason McCartney announced the club would become the first in history to match a free agency bid.
Wells suspected it might happen.
“We were hopeful it wouldn’t be matched, but once the bid was matched, we realise we would highly likely (have to) give up two first round picks,” Wells said.
“We kept in touch with Jeremy (through the trade period) and asked him to hang in there.”
Matthews sent Cook an official letter on day one of the trade period.
It read in part: "Simply, losing Jeremy either by trade or into either draft would be a massive loss for club and code. The significant financial terms that you have offered Jeremy, and as detailed in your free agency bid, fundamentally supports the value equation that would have rendered the likely free agency compensation grossly inadequate considering his proven capability and future value.”
The Giants wanted as many first round picks as they could get, but also had interest in rising midfield star Brandan Parfitt, who the Cats declared off limits.
Geelong made a strong stance it would not entertain players who didn’t want to leave their environment.
Wells said: “We weren’t going to ask players to leave on two weeks’ notice.”
That meant Wells and McCartney were locked in constant dialogue.
At times, Wells wasn’t certain a deal would be done.
“I was never 100 percent confident it was going to happen,” he said.
“It was a decision that was out of our control.”
“In the end, I thought the Giants would respect Jeremy’s wishes, but we knew they were still trying to do the best possible deal for their football club.”
The connections between the main characters was intriguing as the discussion.
Giants football director Jimmy Bartel is a Cats great, as is Steve Johnson.
Wells and Matthews played at the same cricket club – at different times – at Newtown, while Wells lives five doors down from Matthews’ parents.
Matthews joked about the stalemate: “I was going to send my mum down (to Wells’ house) at one stage to see if she could resolve the impasse ... She isn’t a Geelong supporter, so that’s why she would have been the pick of the negotiators.”
Thankfully, Mrs Matthews wasn’t required to break the deadlock.
THE FINAL DAY
The Giants wanted the Cats’ first three picks – 13, 15 and 20.
The Cats would not give up pick 20 – which they believe will slide down to pick 25 on draft night – without getting something back the other way to attack the 2021 draft.
“We made it clear to the Giants what we wanted back for that pick 20, which will likely be pick 25 on draft night,” Wells said.
“Jason assured us from about 5pm he was working on trying to get us what we wanted, which was Essendon’s future second round pick (along with the Giants’ future second round).”
The deal was contingent on Essendon and Greater Western Sydney doing a deal to get Jye Caldwell to Tullamarine.
That went right to the wire, leaving the normally relaxed Cameron - who was waiting impatiently at the North Bondi Fish Restaurant - feeling sick with tension.
The three-way deal was finalised at 7.28pm, just under two minutes before the official deadline.
Cameron’s relief was palpable, with the Cats giving up picks 13, 15 and 20 as well as a future fourth round selection and getting back GWS’s future second round and Essendon’s future second round selections.
“I rang Jeremy and someone rang Chris Scott and someone else rang Brian Cook,” Wells said.
For Cameron and the Cats, it was a massive relief.
For the Giants, they received a record haul of three top 20 draft picks from the Cats in the trade while allowing one of their favourites sons to get to his chosen club.
“I’ve got enormous respect for Jeremy Cameron,” Matthews said.
“He has been unbelievable for our club and unbelievable for expansion.”
Matthews said the Giants never had any intention of allowing Cameron to go through to the national draft, which would have meant no compensation.
He praised Jason McCartney for getting the right deal done for the club, as well as other deals.
Wells couldn’t be happier the Cats got their man, while still loading up with some tidy draft tastings for 2021, thanks to the two future round picks received.
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“We were committed to Jeremy originally as a free agent, but once we agreed to do a trade for him, we wanted to follow it through. It was good to do that.”
Cameron is now in the process of farewelling his Giants mates and will hitch up his fishing boat to the trailer and drive down to Geelong before Christmas.
It’s the start of a new journey with both clubs satisfied with their haul, and with Cameron eager to help the Cats go one step further next year.
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