GWS coach Leon Cameron on the way out after CEO ‘lost faith in him’

Giants coach Leon Cameron has lost the backing of the club’s CEO and is on borrowed time, it has been reported.

GWS are struggling badly so far in 2022, with their 1-5 record falling far short of preseason expectations after they beat the Swans in last year’s elimination final.

Cameron’s contract is up at the end of the year and in April the club announced it wouldn’t enter into any negotiations with him about an extension until the season is over. 

Now the Giants are ‘clearly coming to the end of their time with Leon Cameron’ and his situation is ‘becoming untenable’, leading AFL journalist Caroline Wilson told Channel Nine’s Footy Classified.

Wilson added that GWS chief executive Dave Matthews has ‘lost faith’ in the coach, who has been ‘frozen out’.

Slippery slope: Cameron (pictured after the Giants’ loss to Melbourne this year) took the club to the 2019 grand final but their shocking start this season has reportedly put him offside with the CEO

Despite the return of star Toby Greene (centre), the Giants fell to the Saints in round six to leave them with just one win from six rounds

‘It’s been put to me by other senior coaches … that when the CEO stops being your mate and talking to you, you know the writing is on the wall. That’s where it’s at,’ Wilson said.

GWS have been tipped to go after four-time flag-winning ex-Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson if they decide to move on from Cameron. Wilson said if they want to recruit him, ‘something has to happen quickly’.

Former St Kilda and Fremantle coach Ross Lyon told the program the Giants need to be careful about how they manage any switch.

‘It’s an indictment. The leaders need to get to him [Cameron] and support him,’ he said.

‘It’s hard enough being an AFL coach, let alone thinking your CEO and your footy operations manager [are against you]. I’d be devastated if that was the case.

Cameron labelled the Giants’ call to halt any negotiations on a contract extension until the end of the season ‘a really smart decision from the footy club’ 

The coach was seen in a fiery exchange on the phone during the loss to St Kilda (pictured)

‘What I would like to see happen if that’s the case, and I think Leon is mature enough, behind closed doors you say, “Clarkson’s available. You’ve been here 10 years and been incredible, but we are going after him, but we want to give you the respect and courtesy.

‘I think he would appreciate that.’

Cameron – who took GWS to the 2019 grand final – took the high road when news broke that the club wouldn’t consider re-signing him until the season is over.

‘I think it’s a really smart decision from the footy club. It’s an honest decision,’ he said.

‘When you’ve been involved in a club for near-on 10 years you want to make the right decision. Sometimes clubs probably don’t get that right, and we’ve seen that in the past, and they have regrets. I don’t want us to have any regrets.

‘There will definitely be things that we look at at the end of the year, clearly we look at style of play, win-loss, that’s the norm for any senior coach,’ he said.

‘I look forward to having those really good discussions at the end of the year.’