The decision from All-Australian selectors to anoint superstar Jeremy Cameron as this year’s captain of the side has been dubbed a move that brings about “participation certificate vibes”.
The Geelong key forward, who won this year’s Coleman Medal with a whirlwind 83 goals, was bemusingly handed the prestigious honour at last Thursday night’s AFL Awards, snubbing a handful of genuine captains across the league.
Max Gawn, Jordan Dawson, Marcus Bontempelli, Harris Andrews and Noah Anderson are all skippers at their respective clubs, however were ignored in favour of the competition’s leading goalkicker.
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The former equalled the AFL record for eight-time All-Australian selections on the night, while the side’s vice-captain Dawson was named the league’s best captain by his counterparts.
Gawn was named captain of the side in 2021, and has led Melbourne since the start of 2020.
“It’s got participation certificate vibes about it, and that’s not what the All-Australian’s all about. That’s not what the All-Australian captaincy should be all about,” Melbourne great Garry Lyon began on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.
“I (don’t) think there’d be another 10 people in Australia that would come up with Jeremy Cameron as the All-Australian captain. You know this isn’t disrespectful to Jeremy. Jeremy doesn’t think he’s an All-Australian captain, and was a bit sheepish about it all.
“I want it explained it me … I haven’t heard any (justification).
“It makes no sense at all.”
Traditionally a label reserved for the best leaders in the league in the relevant year, selectors have at times shown a tendency to steer away from conventional selections in recent years.
Marcus Bontempelli was understandably named skipper in last season’s side, however only three years ago in 2022 was Geelong great Tom Hawkins given the honour in a surprise to some.
“It’s been used from time to time as a ceremonial position. This was the case with Alex Rance (2017) and Lance Franklin (2018); that was probably the moment where they tried to land it … then it was done again with Tom Hawkins,” host Gerard Whateley said.
“I think what gets missed here, is the All-Australian team is critical as a historic guide … I think for a long time, the captain of the All-Australian has been a revered position of ‘who was the game’s great leader?’
“It (spoke) of: ‘These were the game’s great leaders’ — and now we’re using it in a different way.”
“What it won’t tell you now, is ‘who was the great leader of the day’ … it (Cameron’s captaincy selection) shouldn’t have got out of the room.”
Cameron named All-Australian captain! | 03:43
Not since 2009 and Brendan Fevola’s 86-goal home-and-away season has a player kicked more than Cameron’s 83 this year.
The All-Australian selection panel this season was made up of nine people, with Andrew Dillon, Eddie Betts, Jude Bolton, Nathan Buckley, Kane Cornes, Abbey Holmes, Glen Jakovich, Laura Kane and Matthew Pavlich involved in dealings.
Lyon was of the belief that the decision to pick Cameron as the side’s skipper would have unlikely to be the preference of all at the table.
“I’m absolutely sure that there’d be people upon that group that wouldn’t have voted for that … so it wouldn’t have been a unanimous pick,” Lyon said.
“It doesn’t make any sense at all … I don’t know how they arrived at it.”
Whateley added: “You can’t ignore a group like that, you had to choose from there for the historic nature of how we’re going to look back at 2025.”
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