Charlie Cameron is back!!
Cameron was positively scintillating at the Gabba on Sunday as the Lions reaffirmed their premiership credentials with a 52-point win over 2025 minor premiers Adelaide.
The 31-year-old speedster had a game-high four goals, five tackles, three clearances, 10 score involvements and 13 pressure acts.
With a match rating of 20.4, he ranked behind only Adelaide captain Jordan Dawson (27.2), and ahead of Zac Bailey (18.6) and Darcy Fort (17.7).
And he was rated the second-best player on the ground by Brisbane coach Chris Fagan and Adelaide counterpart Matthew Nicks, polling eight votes to rank behind only best afield Lachie Neale (10).
It was the first time he has polled in the coaches award since Round 10 2024, when he kicked five goals in a 119-point slaughter of Richmond at the Gabba.
By his own lofty standards, Cameron had a disappointing 2025 season. His goal tally of 32 was down from 55-54-39-44 in the previous four years.
By chance, it all turned around in the ’25 grand final against Geelong, when he kicked a season-high four goals. He had one in the second quarter and two inside four minutes late in the third when the game was in the balance, pushing the Lions lead from one point to 13 points. And 46 seconds into the final term he kicked his fourth to blow it out to 25 points.
He’s started 2026 as he finished 2025, and with 16 goals in seven games he’s at a mark which took him 14 games last. He’s 10th on the League goal-kicking ladder, and leads the Lions tally from Logan Morris (13), Kai Lohmann (12), Oscar Allen (12) and Zac Bailey (10).
Cameron was everywhere against the Crows on Sunday, with one goal in each quarter and a presence which had his former side on high alert all day.
It certainly won’t disappoint the Brisbane #23 to learn that he now has a 7-1-2 record against Adelaide, and his 2.8 goals per game average against Adelaide is his best. He’s 2.15 goals per game against Gold Coast and 2.14 goals per game against Fremantle.
Two-time Brisbane Norm Smith Medallist Will Ashcroft and his 2025 premiership teammate Ty Gallop were the other Queenslanders to poll in the Coach’s Association Player of the Year in Round 7.
Ashcroft had an equal career-best 36 possessions against the Crows, a game-high for score involvements (13) and inside 50s (8), and finished off a spectacular goal from the square after a rapid-fire chain of possession and a speculative over-the-head handball from Kai Lohmann lying on the ground.
And Gallop, the discovery of the year in defence after beginning his career last year up forward, had the best game of his brief career with 12 possessions, nine marks and a confidence we’ve not seen before.
Levi Ashcroft, too, stamped his mark on the game with 22 possessions and 11 score involvements off the week, while Harris Andrews was his ever-resolute self in the Lions’ best performance of the season.
Keidean Coleman, getting better every week after virtually two years out of the game, had 14 possessions and five intercepts, and the ever-consistent Jaspa Fletcher had 21 possessions as Adelaide’s Ben Keays, returning home to the Gabba in enemy colors, picked up 16 possessions and kicked a goal for the Crows.
Bodhi Uwland (21 possessions), Lachie Weller (17 possessions, two goals) and Will Graham (20 possessions) were the better Queenslanders in the SUNS’ 49-point loss to Hawthorn in Launceston on Saturday.
Corey Wagner continued his outstanding season at Fremantle with a career-best 27 possessions in their win over Carlton in Perth. His season average of 19.4 possessions per game is up from 14.6 possessions per game last year, and he’s now an automatic pick in a side which, with a 6-1 record, shares top spot on the ladder with Sydney and Hawthorn.
Oskar Baker helped his Bulldogs side despite their 66-point hiding from Sydney, contributing 15 possessions and a goal at Marvel on Thursday night, and Aliir Aliir, with 16 possessions and 11 marks, was ever-resolute in Port Adelaide’s shock 30-point win over Geelong at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
