Gone but grateful for wins of Leon
LEON Cameron has not ruled out coaching again after deciding to part ways with Greater Western Sydney.
Cameron said the mutual decision to end his nine-year tenure at the Giants would give the club time to secure a replacement for next year.
He will coach the side one more time, at home against Carlton on Sunday at 3.20pm.
Former Essendon star Mark McVeigh will then step up from his assistant role to act as interim coach for the rest of the season.
McVeigh’s former teammate and friend James Hird has told the Giants he is willing to play a more active role at the club to help McVeigh.
Hird, who has been in London on business, joined GWS in a mentoring role this year but is not believed to be after the senior position next year.
The Bomber champion, who was suspended for a year because of the supplements saga, has not coached since leaving Essendon in 2015.
Cameron’s place at the Giants was considered tenuous after he earlier announced they were putting contract talks on hold.
“I understand that at the start of the year when you park contract talks until the end of the year it will create speculation,” Cameron said on Thursday.
“We have open honest conversations so I said I think the time is right to have a bit of breathing space for the club to look for its next coach.
“It’s a tough job and it can wear you down and people will speculate, but I am proud to say it’s a joint decision between the coach and club.
“I was walking around here
on Tuesday at training and I know I have still got the players, but it’s a zapping job and sometimes that can wear you down a little bit but that’s not just the one reason.
“There are a whole bunch of reasons, we all in life try to find the perfect moment to make the decision.
“This is a good decision, the timing is right for our footy club to look for our senior coach. I am the one and Dave (club chief executive Dave Matthews) is the one that made the decision together.”
Premiership coach Alastair Clarkson will become a hot favourite to take over for the Giants at the end of the season. At the moment, the market has McVeigh $3, Adam Kingsley $7, Adem Yze $7, Clarkson $8 and Hird at $12.
Matthews hailed Cameron for his near-decade of service at the club and said very few figures left such a legacy of elite coaching and club building, given the Giants’ expansion role in the AFL.
“Leon Cameron has an amazing legacy at this club, he’s done an outstanding job over a long period of time and his legacy is absolutely assured,” Cameron said.
“He has taken us to finals, won finals, done what a lot of AFL coaches haven’t done, and that’s build a club.
“We are very grateful for the job he has done.”