Cameron closes in on Coleman
By Brendan Day
Jeremy Cameron, the 20-year-old GWS GIANTS attacking spearhead, has stunned the AFL this year in his bid to win the Coleman Medal.
Should he succeed, Cameron will be the youngest Coleman Medal recipient since John Longmire, current coach of the Sydney Swans, won the award playing for North Melbourne in 1990 at the age of 19.
Having set a club record haul of seven goals against Collingwood in Round 18, Cameron currently shares the lead at 60 goals with Hawthorn’s Jarryd Roughead and West Coast’s Josh Kennedy.
38 of Cameron’s goals have come against top-eight teams, demonstrating an ability to rise to the occasion, and with just two rounds of the regular season remaining, he is firming as the favourite to take out the award.
Should Cameron take out the Coleman Medal, he’ll be the first GWS GIANT to do so, but not the first New South Wales-based player to lead the league in goalkicking.
Tony Lockett, famed full-forward and AFL record-holder for most goals kicked in a career with 1,360, won the award in 1996 and 1998 whilst playing for the Sydney Swans. Lockett booted 114 and 107 goals in these years, respectively.
Prior to Lockett, the last player from NSW to win the Coleman was Tom Carroll, the VFL’s leading goalkicker for the 1961 season with 54 goals. T
hough he played for Carlton, Carroll maintained strong ties to the Riverina region of NSW in which he had grown up. A gifted forward, Carroll shocked the league when he retired at the age of 24 to return to his family’s farm near Ganmain.
The Coleman Medal was only introduced in 1981, and was retrospectively awarded to the leading goalkicker for each home-and-away season since 1955 – the year after its namesake, John Coleman, was forced to retire due to injury. Prior to this, the then-titled VFL awarded the Leading Goalkicker Medal.
Only one New South Welshman won this award – Bill Mohr, full-forward for the St. Kilda Football Club. In the 1936 season, Mohr made his hometown of Wagga Wagga proud by leading the league with 101 majors.
Wayne Carey, another product of Wagga Wagga, never once won the Coleman despite being regarded by many media commentators as the greatest centre-half forward to ever play football.
Carey kicked 82 goals in 1996 and 80 in 1998 but, despite holding North Melbourne’s record for goals kicked, his goal tallies never quite matched the likes of Lockett, Jason Dunstall, and Tony Modra.
In what will be Kevin Sheedy’s last home game as a coach, the GWS GIANTS take on Richmond at Skoda Stadium this Sunday. Look for Cameron to add to his tally and hopefully take an outright lead in the race to the Coleman Medal.
