DEMONS SNAP UP BROWN
Tasmanian ace Ben Brown, let go by North Melbourne, yesterday found a new home with the Melbourne Demons, and vowed that he had moved past his woes of the 2020 AFL season.
GEELONG has unlocked the final piece of a trade and free agency triumvirate it believes can deliver the club its 10th premiership next year after securing 2019 Coleman medallist Jeremy Cameron following a bitter standoff with Greater Western Sydney.
But the Cats had to pay a heavy price, giving up their three first round picks (13, 15 and 20) plus a future fourth round selection in a three-way deal, while getting back two future second round picks from the Giants and Essendon.
The deal, which went through to the dying seconds of the trade window, also saw Jye Caldwell, pictured, get to the Bombers.
Twenty-five days after Cameron announced he wanted to leave the Giants, the two warring clubs begrudgingly came to an agreement that sees the Cats give up most of their Tim Kelly draft booty from last year to claim Cameron.
Leading into the final day of trading, the Cats had offered picks 13 and 15, but the Giants wanted more.
They held firm with the deal requiring Geelong, Greater Western Sydney and Essendon to come together late to arrange a deal that David King said could embolden more clubs to match free agency bids.
It means the 27-year-old Cameron will join stars Isaac Smith and Shaun Higgins at GMHBA Stadium.
The club is hopeful the three inclusions can turn the 2020 runners-up into the 2021 premiers.
The Cats are now $5.50 second favourites behind Richmond ($4) in the 2021 premiership betting
The Giants made history by becoming the first AFL club to match a restricted free agent request and, by standing firm and not claiming a first round compensation pick, they have traded themselves into a great position for next month’s national draft.
The Giants would have only received one first round pick as free agency compensation if they hadn’t matched the deal.
The late deal is a huge relief for Cameron, and the Cats, with Matthew Lloyd saying the move should see Geelong start the 2021 season as premiership favourites.
Lloyd said on Trade Radio the Giants were “in a nasty mood ... (insisting) ‘we want full tote odds for Jeremy Cameron’.”
“(But) I think Jeremy Cameron will help Geelong win a premiership next year, he is the best player that is in this trade window at the moment.
“I am not put off by his season this year ... put him into that Geelong team, a happy Jeremy Cameron, and it makes them nearly premiership favourites.”
Cameron joins the Cats in the prime of his career and eager to make up for a disappointing 2020 season where he kicked 24 goals from 17 games – his lowest tally from his nine seasons at the Giants.
That tally was still enough for him to be the club’s leading goalkicker again for the ninth consecutive season.
Part of the angst between the clubs came from the Giants’ belief that the Cats had been courting Cameron for at least two years.
Geelong has agreed to pay Cameron $950,000 a season for the next six seasons, with the club’s regional base being a strong selling point for the one-time kid who grew up at Dartmoor, near the South Australian border.