GWS will have a new multi-year deal for Leon Cameron when football is ready to resume

Is Leon Cameron the right man to drive the GWS Ferrari? There is no doubt at the Giants, with the club fully committed to their man. Club boss David Matthews opens up on the future, coronavirus crisis and more.

Leon Cameron after last year’s Grand Final. Picture: Getty Images

Greater Western Sydney has guaranteed senior coach Leon Cameron a minimum two-year contract extension on the back of the coronavirus crisis.

The Giants have assured Cameron he will continue to lead the club until at least 2022 although the specific terms cannot be ticked off until the AFL’s contract freeze ends.

The global health crisis has posed a huge threat to the game but GWS Giants chief executive David Matthews said the club was well-placed to weather the financial storm because of its relatively small staffing levels compared to other clubs.

Cameron, 47, entered the year without a locked-in contract beyond this season and has faced stinging scrutiny of his ability to make the most of the talented Giants’ list in recent years.

But, after guiding the team to its first Grand Final appearance last year, Matthews said the club was certain Cameron was the right man to lead them.

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Leon Cameron and Toby Greene embrace after the club’s finals win against Collingwood. Picture: Getty Images

“There is no question for us in terms of Leon Cameron’s future at the club, he will get an extension beyond this year for at least two years,” Matthews told the Herald Sun.

“Under the current circumstances, we are all just waiting to see how the soft cap and the economics of the industry works.

“But Leon is fine, he is comfortable with all of that.”

Locking in the coach’s future is another step towards keeping superstar forward Jeremy Cameron, who indicated strongly on Sunday he was determined to play out the rest of his brilliant career up north.

Matthews said the club had been forced to stand down staff throughout the AFL shutdown in line with other clubs.

While some have dubbed the Giants one of the AFL’s most vulnerable clubs, Matthews said it had built a strong culture and commercial model and had an important place in the league.

“Right now the focus is the health and well-being of the staff and the players, so we know what the priority is,” Matthews said.

“But we have built a very good club and it is just a matter of how you keep protecting that.

“Gil McLachlan is doing a brilliant job and I think the game is going to be as popular, if not more popular, than ever after all of this.

“It’s just a matter of how we navigate the current circumstances because what underpins the economics is how people feel about Australian rules football, not necessarily the AFL or the clubs.”

Matthews said the absence of the game in coming months would serve to remind all of its participants and supporters about the importance of it across the country.

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“The fan base is still going to be there,” he said.

“This period is going to underline for a lot of people just how important the game is to them.

“You have only got to ask people right now how much they are going to miss it, how much they are going to miss playing it and watching it, so I think the appreciation of the game will be as strong as ever.

“The AFL industry including the 18 clubs and coaches and players associations have just got to make sure the future financial model is sustainable coming out of this because there is a lot of pain being felt right across the whole competition.”

Originally published as GWS will have a new multi-year deal for Leon Cameron when football is ready to resume