AFL image of Jeremy Cameron is all wrong

Footy icons couldn’t believe their eyes as an alarming scene before Adelaide’s shock win over GWS sparked plenty of discussion.

What was Jeremy Cameron doing here?

A demoralising loss to last-placed Adelaide on Tuesday night leaves GWS teetering on the brink of the top eight and AFL pundits are questioning if the Sydney club has lost its way.

The Giants have been a finals lock in recent years without capturing an elusive premiership but they’re in danger of planning an early Mad Monday if they can’t sort themselves out in the final two rounds of the regular season.

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One of the troubling scenes from a 12-point defeat to the Crows was the sight of key forward Jeremy Cameron — the AFL’s highest paid player on a salary reportedly worth more than $1.4 million — lining up on the wing for the opening bounce of the match.

The left-footer is a foundation player at the Giants and has been the team’s leading goalkicker every season since it entered the AFL.

But rather than starting the biggest goal threat inside forward 50 against Adelaide, Cameron was shunted to the wing — a decision ex-Richmond and Western Bulldogs star Nathan Brown couldn’t understand.

“The other thing that confused me the other night was the first bounce,” Brown said on Channel 9’s Footy Classified. “Jeremy Cameron … he’s dropped off this year, starting on the wing at the first bounce.

“This is something that you might try halfway through the second quarter, halfway through the third quarter, late in the game to get him into the game.

“But at the first bounce your weapon, your No. 1 player you want forward of the ball to be marking the football, probably their best kick inside forward 50, starting on the wing?

“I just didn’t get this from (Giants coach) Leon Cameron the other night.”

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Jeremy Cameron can’t kick goals from there.

Former Fremantle and St Kilda coach Ross Lyon was equally as perplexed, saying while playing Cameron out of position is an option if things aren’t working, starting him there is a strange move.

“It’s OK as something to go to but you’re right. You want to win the first quarter — you win the first quarter, you win 90 per cent of games,” Lyon said.

“Mentally, it’s not a great signal to the opposition. Jeremy Cameron’s starting on the wing, the defender would go, ‘Thanks very much, he’s out of the way, he’s not in the goalscoring space’.

“They would have had logic behind it, but it’s hard to figure it out from the outside.”

Last year Cameron averaged 7.8 score involvements and 3.2 goals a game. In 2020, those numbers have dropped to 6.3 and 1.9 — leading Brown to question if the 27-year-old has lost some of his “edge”.

North Melbourne legend David King was another to voice his concerns about Cameron being shifted up the ground.

“I had a look at his last couple of weeks and he’s working right up the field. I don’t know (why),” King told Fox Footy on Wednesday night

“I think Leon Cameron has to make a decision. Jeremy Cameron is their prime goalkicker, he has to play in the forward line.

“He’s the guy you’re paying $1.4 million to. He’s got to be your goalkicker, he’s got to be your target.

“He’s the one most likely to kick five or six goals in a game.”

The Giants’ most prolific forward has been down on form in 2020.

The Giants made preliminary finals in 2016 and 2017, and lost the grand final in 2019 but with eight wins and seven losses this season, they have been unable to build any momentum.

Brown isn’t sure whether GWS knows what style of footy it wants to play anymore, and believes that is partly the reason behind its 2020 woes.

“I felt I used to know what GWS were and what they stood for but I’m watching them at the moment and I’m confused about what they’re trying to achieve,” he said.

“They used to be an attacking side, they used to have great flair, now they’ve become a defensive side, a defensive-minded, down-the-line side and it isn’t suiting them.

“I’m just confused about where they are, how they’re trying to play, what they’re trying to do, what they’re trying to achieve.”