Opinion
Jeremy Cameron could be the second player to win the Brownlow and Coleman medals in the same year in 2023.
The Geelong superstar has started off the season in spectacular fashion, taking over the mantle as the league’s best player in the eyes of many.
Through the first five rounds, Cameron has kicked 22 goals, four clear of Charlie Curnow in second place and eight clear of Toby Greene, Tom Papley and Oscar Allen, who all round out the extended podium.
Winning the Coleman Medal is easy to see for Cameron and if he stays fit, he’s more than likely going to add a second award to his collection.
We know that the 30-year-old isn’t a one-dimensional as he may have been earlier in his career. In fact, since 2017, Cameron has arguably been the league’s premier forward across two different clubs, notwithstanding the aberration that was his final year at GWS in 2020.
When it comes to accolades, Cameron has one Coleman Medal next to his name, thanks to his 67 goals in the 2019 home-and-away season, the most to have won the award since 2017.
He won the Giants’ leading goalkicker award in nine consecutive seasons, is Geelong’s reigning best-and-fairest and is a triple All-Australian jacket wearer.
(Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
Really, Cameron’s style of play and influence on his team is reminiscent of peak Lance Franklin, where the goals came through with metronomic regularity, but the ability to have an impact outside the front arc, particularly through the middle and defensive wings to get the ball forward that really separates the duo from most other key forwards.
Indeed, Franklin was the only player in modern history to create the feeling that he could break the mould of the Brownlow being a midfielder’s award.
The legendary forward has won four Coleman Medal in his career, polled 20 or more Brownlow votes in each of these seasons and finished top five in the count in 2014 and 2017.
In 2022, Cameron finished equal third in the Coleman Medal, earning him a career-high 19 votes and an equal eighth-place finish.
The Cat doesn’t do things in half-measures. In his last five seasons, Cameron has received 47 Brownlow votes and has polled in 17 games – that’s him being given best on ground honours in 13 matches, or 15.12% of his total matches in that period of time, which is on par with Franklin between 2014 and 2017.
Those numbers themselves far exceed any other forward in modern history and are above average in across most players in the competition.
Of course, the valid argument exists that there’s a higher concentration of best-on-ground performances across the season for a key forward as a big haul of goals catches the attention of everyone. A seven-goal performance almost always outpolls a 30-disposal showing from a midfielder.
Yet Cameron has transformed his game to the point where him taking marks deep in defence in a Round 5 clash against West Coast are just as noticeable as the goals he has kicked.
So far this season, the veteran has locked himself in for nine votes with best afield performances against Carlton, Hawthorn and West Coast.
It’s a small sample size, but after five rounds, he’s averaging 19 disposals, seven marks, five inside 50s and over four goals a game, all of which are career-highs.
Offensively, he’s averaging four marks inside 50, nine score involvements, 1.4 score launches and nearly seven shots on goal per game, all rated elite, all the best numbers of his career.
His 2.2 intercept possessions and 1.2 intercept marks are rated elite, while averaging two defensive half pressure acts and a couple of spoils per game are numbers he hasn’t had in years.
All of this has come at a time where the Cats haven’t had the best start to their season and Cameron is willing himself to go all over the ground.
This stands out to us viewers who have continued to elevate our opinion of Cameron, but it will also translate to votes, given the reactions that ensue.
Jeremy Cameron of the Geelong Cats celebrates. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)
Let’s not forget the extra umpire in play this season and not discount the field coverage and attention that can be paid in all different lines, as opposed to hyper-focus on stoppages by everyone.
The fact Tom Hawkins has to play deeper in the forward line now as opposed to the two rotating roles just means we’re going to see more of Cameron around the ball, an upward trend that has continued since he joined the Cats some three seasons ago. That doesn’t restrict the scoreboard impact of Cameron, it just enhances the other parts of his game.
Now, the Brownlow Medal is a maligned award, partly because of the fact only one position can win the award and also, the quality of player that has won the award has tended to vary – it pays to be consistent rather than mercurially damaging in some seasons.
If the last two seasons have told us anything, though, it’s that Jeremy Cameron has the ability to be both – and he has acted upon this to start 2023.
We’ve lauded many key forwards in history for how well they’ve played and the impact they’ve had on their teams, but very few have had that translated in the Brownlow Medal Count.
Franklin had to compete for votes with the likes of Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Josh Kennedy and Luke Parker, which put on a ceiling on his vote-getting.
Cameron has started the season so far ahead of any teammate, while already earning a strangle-hold as the best Geelong vote-getter without any real competition.
The early-season favourites for the award are rightfully Nick Daicos, which would be an incredible story in itself, Clayton Oliver, Marcus Bontempelli and Lachie Neale, all incredibly influential players who collect plenty of the ball and win games for their teams.
But just imagine how transformative it’d be for the perception of the Brownlow for Cameron to become the second-key forward in history to do the double, 36 years after Tony Lockett did it.
And he won’t be reliant upon kicking 117 goals in a season to get it done, but rather maintaining a high-level of impact all over the ground on the back of an incredibly high and improved fitness base.
Not only has he established himself as the best key forward in the AFL, but arguably, the league’s most well-rounded performer.
If this early-season form is maintained, Jeremy Cameron will etch his name in history, as the 2023 Brownlow and Coleman medalist.
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