Cameron Ling (born 27 February 1981) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 2 ...

in the Australian Football League (AFL). A tagger at and , Ling is a premiership-winning

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

at the club. He is now a commentator on AFL football for the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australi ...

and a special comments commentator on AFL football for ABC Grandstand. He is also a member of the selection panel for the AFL

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led by ...

and the

AFL Rising Star Award The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan B ...

Career

Ling played junior football for the Geelong Falcons as a full-forward and was drafted by his hometown club, the

. In 2007, his onfield performances were rewarded with selection in the All-Australian team on the interchange. On 20 January 2010, Cameron Ling was announced as the team's new captain, taking over from the recently retired Tom Harley. He captained the Cats in the

2010 AFL season The 2010 AFL season was the 114th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured si ...

and the

2011 AFL season The 2011 AFL season was the 115th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured s ...

. In 2011, he captained Geelong to their third premiership in 5 years against

Collingwood Collingwood, meaning "wood of disputed ownership", may refer to: Educational institutions * Collingwood College, Victoria, an Australian state Prep to Year 12 school * Collingwood College, Durham, college of Durham University, England * Collingw ...

. He kicked the final goal of the match after a turn-over from Héritier Lumumba. Shortly after guiding the Cats to their premiership win, Cameron Ling announced his retirement on 5 October 2011. Being able to nullify the opposition's best midfielder whilst managing to influence matches has made Cameron Ling regarded as one of the best ever taggers to play AFL. He was succeeded as captain by

Joel Selwood Joel Anthony Selwood (born 26 May 1988) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was a quadruple premiership player, a six-time All-Australian, and a three- ...

Post playing days

In November 2011, Ling announced he would join

Channel 7 Channel 7 or TV7 may refer to: Television networks, channels and stations ;Algeria *TV7 (Algerian TV channel) ; Argentina *Channel 7 (Argentina), a government-owned Argentine TV station * Channel 7 – Bahía Blanca, an Argentine TV station in Bue ...

in a commentary role on one of their Saturday night games, he also has commentated on Friday night matches. At the beginning of the 2012

Associated Public Schools of Victoria The Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS) are a group of eleven independent schools in Victoria, Australia, similar to the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales in New South Wales and the Public Schools Ass ...

football season, Ling took up the position of Director of Football at

Geelong Grammar School Geelong Grammar School is an Independent school, independent Anglican co-educational Boarding school, boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located in Corio, Victoria, Corio on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, ...

. On 9 October 2013, Ling was appointed to work one day per week during the 2014 season on the development of the

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...

leadership group. Ling is an Australian Apprenticeships Ambassador for the Australian Government.

"Mayor" of Geelong

In what started as a joke, following the hype of the Cats drought-breaking premiership, Cameron Ling was touted as the 'mayor of Geelong', a humorous reference to the way he is idolised by Geelong people. On Wednesday 3 October 2007 though, Geelong's then Mayor, councillor Bruce Harwood, agreed that he'd be happy to step down for Ling. Ling's interest in politics and his intelligence is widely known, while it's been reported that he took a significant interest in local council and leadership during his days at

St. Joseph's College, Geelong , motto_translation = Striving for the highest , city = Newtown , state = Victoria , zipcode = 3220 , country = Australia , coordinates = , ty ...

. During the Premiership celebratory parade through Geelong's streets on 3 October, Ling acknowledged his title as mayor, however despite the contention it raised, was never formalised and thus more of a publicity stunt.

Personal life

In December 2012, Ling's partner Nicole Dodds gave birth to their first child.

Statistics

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2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

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2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

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2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 45 , , 21 , , 11 , , 8 , , 248 , , 167 , , 415 , , 85 , , 49 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 11.8 , , 8.0 , , 19.8 , , 4.0 , , 2.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 45 , , 21 , , 4 , , 5 , , 280 , , 242 , , 522 , , 112 , , 53 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 13.3 , , 11.5 , , 24.9 , , 5.3 , , 2.5 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 45 , , 25 , , 16 , , 5 , , 357 , , 235 , , 592 , , 168 , , 72 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 14.3 , , 9.4 , , 23.7 , , 6.7 , , 2.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 45 , , 23 , , 11 , , 9 , , 307 , , 260 , , 567 , , 139 , , 50 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 13.4 , , 11.3 , , 24.6 , , 6.0 , , 2.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2006 , style="text-align:center;", , 45 , , 22 , , 10 , , 3 , , 248 , , 255 , , 503 , , 131 , , 61 , , 0.4 , , 0.1 , , 11.3 , , 11.6 , , 22.9 , , 6.0 , , 2.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

, style="text-align:center;",

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

, 45 , , 24 , , 28 , , 6 , , 215 , , 261 , , 476 , , 107 , , 69 , , 1.2 , , 0.2 , , 9.0 , , 10.9 , , 19.8 , , 4.5 , , 2.9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 45 , , 23 , , 15 , , 5 , , 237 , , 309 , , 546 , , 106 , , 79 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 10.3 , , 13.4 , , 23.7 , , 4.6 , , 3.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 45 , , 22 , , 7 , , 7 , , 235 , , 265 , , 500 , , 100 , , 106 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 10.7 , , 12.0 , , 22.7 , , 4.6 , , 4.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 45 , , 21 , , 9 , , 12 , , 211 , , 253 , , 464 , , 76 , , 112 , , 0.4 , , 0.6 , , 10.0 , , 12.0 , , 22.1 , , 3.6 , , 5.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" , 2011 , style="text-align:center;", , 45 , , 21 , , 17 , , 9 , , 265 , , 192 , , 457 , , 74 , , 92 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 12.6 , , 9.1 , , 21.8 , , 3.5 , , 4.4 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 246 ! 139 ! 73 ! 2752 ! 2526 ! 5278 ! 1166 ! 780 ! 0.6 ! 0.3 ! 11.2 ! 10.3 ! 21.5 ! 4.7 ! 3.2

Honours and achievements

*Team **

AFL Premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1990, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaug ...

(

, 2011 ( C) ** McClelland Trophy (

** NAB Cup (

): 2006,

*Individual **

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led by ...

Carji Greeves Medal The Carji Greeves Medal is a name given in recent decades to an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) adjudged best and fairest for the Geelong Football Club for the season. The voting system has changed a number of times. Fo ...

: 2004 ** Australian representative honours in

International rules football International rules football ( ga, Peil na rialacha idirnáisiunta; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was develop ...

: 2002 ** Geelong F.C. Best First Year Reserves Player Award: 2000 ** Geelong F.C. Most Improved Player Award: 2001 ** Geelong F.C. Most club votes in Brownlow Medal: 2002, 2003, 2005 ** Geelong F.C. Community Champion Award: 2003 ** Geelong F.C. Most Determined and Most Dedicated Player Award: 2005 ** Geelong F.C Coach's Award: 2008 ** Captain of Geelong F.C.: 2010—2011 **Vice-captain of Geelong F.C.: 2006—2009 **Deputy vice-captain of Geelong F.C.: 2005 ** AFL Rising Star nomination: 2001 **Vic Country representative honours at the

AFL Under 18 Championships The AFL Under-19 Championships (for sponsorship reasons, the NAB AFL Under-19 Championships) is an annual Australian national underage representative championship in Australian rules football tournament. It is seen as one of the main pathways ...

: 1998, 1999 **Captain of Geelong Falcons (TAC Cup): 1998 **

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Vic ...

Team of the Year: 1998 ** Australian (Under-17) representative honours in

: 1998

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ling, Cameron Geelong Football Club players Geelong Football Club Premiership players All-Australians (AFL) Carji Greeves Medal winners 1981 births Living people Geelong Football Club captains Australian rules footballers from Geelong Geelong Falcons players St Joseph's Football Club players Australia international rules football team players Three-time VFL/AFL Premiership players Australian rules football commentators