Charlie Cameron has struggled with fitness and form early this season, starting his preseason later than most and suffering a setback here and there. Brisbane has kept on winning despite not putting in a four-quarter performance yet, and Cameron's cameos have saved them a W more than once already. Like Cam Rayner, Cameron is a cream player whose true value is only unlocked when the rest of the team upfield creates the conditions for him to thrive. He has been grinding it out to start the Lions' premiership defence, but tonight might be the time to unleash.
Charlie Cameron has struggled with fitness and form early this season, starting his preseason later than most and suffering a setback here and there. Brisbane has kept on winning despite not putting in a four-quarter performance yet, and Cameron's cameos have saved them a W more than once already. Like Cam Rayner, Cameron is a cream player whose true value is only unlocked when the rest of the team upfield creates the conditions for him to thrive. He has been grinding it out to start the Lions' premiership defence, but tonight might be the time to unleash.
Charlie Cameron has had about as quiet a start to 2024 as any of the Lions, in a team which began the campaign with a string of surprising losses, especially at home. The bye period came at a good time for Brisbane, allowing them to reset mentally, with excellent results last week. Cameron has suffered a fair bit this season from lack of quality and quantity of delivery inside 50, which leads some pundits to wonder whether he should rotate through the centre like Kysaiah Pickett or Shai Bolton. Could this be the making of Charlie as a fantasy asset? Most likely not.
Charlie Cameron is not a particularly useful player for fantasy purposes as his role is way too deep in most games to garner enough of the ball. His worth in real football is much higher, of course, and the job that Dylan Grimes did on him last September went a long way to securing Richmond their second grand final berth in three years. Tonight's game is on his turf with a home crowd behind him, and it's time for him to show that he can perform on the big stage under the heaviest pressure. He doesn't have to win the game by himself, but he can't get flogged again.
Charlie's a little angel
Devastating opposition defences on a weekly basis, Charlie Cameron cemented a banner season with All-Australian selection. The ex-Crow kicked the fifth most goals in the competition (57) and produced the fourth most scoring shots (89). He kicked a career high six goals in the 91-point victory against the Suns in round 21. Cameron produced a season for the ages, rarely repeated in the modern era. Unfortunately for fantasy enthusiasts, his performance quality rarely aligns with fantasy production. After a career-best season that failed to capture the prudent fantasy coach's attention, he will never prove worthy of our selection interest.
Charlie Cameron is the most important piece in the Brisbane Lions forward line, if not their whole team, as they often spend a lot of time isolating him deep forward against lesser men. He was well beaten by Dylan Grimes late in the home & away season at the MCG, but this week he's playing in front of an adoring home crowd with the stakes much higher. From a fantasy point of view he is rarely a factor, and it would be a brave coach who would pick him to have a big day out against the miserly Tiger defence.
Do we chuck Charlie?
If you just looked at Charlie Cameron's fantasy average from last season you'd think his first at his new club was much the same as the others, just below the forward baseline. He started off with three bags of three goals, went missing against some top sides then another bag against the Bulldogs to salute with 125 points... then busted his ankle in round 11 and was out for the season. He has reached 20 disposals only twice in his career. Cameron is the sort of player you want to get more involved in the play because when he does bob up, you know he's going to do something good. Quantity is the question for him going into year six, and if he was going to take the final step to becoming a consistent fantasy performer we probable should have seen it by now. Cyril Rioli managed to make it work when fit, but he was above the baseline by season three. Charlie may never get there.
Echo Charlie Foxtrot
Brisbane were considered to have secured a bit of a steal in prising Charlie Cameron away from Adelaide in the off season, following 21 games of pretty much the same stuff as his breakout 2016. He managed six bags of multiple goals before the bye but only one after, albeit that was five big ones in the preliminary final. Lion fans are going to enjoy watching Cameron sizzle around the Gabba. Fantasy coaches are going to be more circumspect, as if he can only manage replacement-level scoring while in the best attack in football, he's got significant downside after moving to one of the worst. A fine player for his AFL team, not a fantasy natural.
