Dermott Brereton questions whether enough was done to support Cam McCarthy

Dermott Brereton was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of a man he mentored at the Giants in Cam McCarthy, and the Hawthorn great questioned whether enough was done to support him.

Dermott Brereton says he was deeply saddened by the death of former AFL forward Cam McCarthy - a player he mentored in his early years at the GWS Giants - as he wondered whether enough was done to support him.

McCarthy, who played 70 games for the Giants and Fremantle, died in Perth, aged 29, on Thursday.

Brereton worked with the young Giants forwards in the club’s formative years, and took a particular shine to McCarthy.

“It moved me (on Friday night) to see Alex Pearce and Nat Fyfe just breaking up,” Brereton said on SEN. “It was tremendously sad.”

“He was just a really beautiful young man who lost his way … (he) had some issues internally himself. To the McCarthy family, please accept mine and our heartfelt, deepest commiserations.”

Dermott Brereton training with the late Cam McCarthy in 2015. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Brereton remained in contact with McCarthy after he had left the Giants and moved back to Perth to play with the Dockers.

“I haven’t spoken to him for probably two to three years and obviously a lot has transpired in that time,” he said on Saturday.

“His (phone) number is still on (my) phone … I looked at it this morning (Saturday) and gazed at it and thought, knowing what has happened, ‘have we done enough … have I spoken to him enough?’

“Not that I (was) deep in his life but he would call me after he left the Giants and ask me stuff, when he was at Fremantle.”

He said McCarthy had been a keen student of the game from the moment he arrived in Sydney to play with the Giants.

“Gubby (Allan) would tell me … ‘I have got a great talent in a bloke called Jeremy Cameron, (but) there are a few other blokes I think you could do something with’.

“Cam came a year or two later and he was the bravest in the air by far. He had a desire to launch at the footy.”

Originally published as Dermott Brereton questions whether enough was done to support Cam McCarthy