Geelong emerges as shock player in Jeremy Cameron contract uncertainty

GWS is desperate to keep marquee man Jeremy Cameron but a rival has joined the fight to convince the Giant to snub a $3.5m offer.

The Cats are coming for Jeremy Cameron.

Geelong has emerged as a contender to snare Jeremy Cameron as the GWS forward weighs up his future.

Cameron, who has been with the Giants since their inception, is out of contract at the end of 2020 and is yet to put pen to paper on a new deal.

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The Sydney club is desperate to keep its most prolific goalkicker and GWS football boss Jason McCartney said last month talks between both parties had progressed, but there was “still a bit of work to go” to re-sign him.

Channel 7 AFL reporter Tom Browne says Cameron has an offer in front of him from the Giants worth approximately $700,000 a season over five years — a total of $3.5 million — but reports his manager Alex McDonald has been in contact with the Cats in “recent weeks and recent days”.

“Jeremy Cameron’s management are in continued discussions again with the Cats, which is interesting,” Browne told the Triple M Hot Breakfast.

“The Giants are sticking to an offer at the moment, I understand, of five years at $700,000, which is good money.

“But on the open market there will be other clubs interested beyond that.”

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Jeremy Cameron’s future remains a mystery.

Cameron has been the Giants’ leading goalkicker every season since they entered the AFL but booted just 24 majors in 17 appearances this year as GWS bombed out to miss the finals.

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.

The 2019 Coleman Medallist is the game’s highest-paid player, according to an investigation by the Herald Sun, and was set to earn $1.5m in 2020 as part of a heavily back-ended contract before COVID-19 slashed player wages across the board.

If Geelong was to lure Cameron back to his home state of Victoria, it would boast a seriously intimidating forward line featuring the left-footer and this year’s league-leading goalkicker Tom Hawkins.