Cameron Ling (born 27 February 1981) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er and three-time premiership player who played for the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Kardinia Park in South Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). A tagger at and , Ling was also a premiership-winning

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

at the club in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. He is now a commentator on AFL football for the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

and a special comments commentator on AFL football for

ABC Radio Grandstand ABC Sport, formerly ABC Radio Grandstand, is a live radio sports focused commentary and talk-back program which runs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) local radio network across Australia and on one digital-only station. History ...

. 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 football in Australia, 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-perfo ...

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 AFL Rising Star, 1993 season, and ...

Football career

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

. In

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, his on-field performances were rewarded with selection in the 2007 All-Australian team on the interchange. He also played a solid role in their 2007 premiership later that year in which Geelong broke a 44-year premiership drought and won by a record-breaking 119 points against

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

, a record that stands to this day. Ling served as vice-captain in their 2009 season, including the 2009 premiership in which he was considered among Geelong's best players. 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 and the 2011 AFL season. In 2011, he captained Geelong to their third premiership in 5 years, against Collingwood. He kicked the final goal of the match after a turnover from Héritier Lumumba. Shortly after guiding the Cats to their 9th premiership win in their history, 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.

Post-playing days

In November 2011, Ling announced he would join Channel 7 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 in New South Wales, the Great Public Schools Association in Quee ...

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

Geelong Grammar School Geelong Grammar School is a private Anglican co-educational boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located in Corio on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay. Establ ...

. 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), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

leadership group. Ling is an Australian Apprenticeships Ambassador for the Australian Government. Outside of the AFL, he co-hosts ''Tom, Lingy & Loggy'' on K Rock 95.5.

"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 temporarily 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. During the Premiership celebratory parade through Geelong's streets on 3 October 2007, Ling acknowledged his title as mayor; however, despite the contention it raised, it was never formalised and was merely a tongue-in-cheek publicity stunt.

Personal life

In December 2012, Ling's partner Nicole Dodds gave birth to their first child Max Ling. In 2020 he was named in the St Joseph’s College team of champions, recognising the best VFL/AFL players to have attended the school.

Statistics

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2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

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2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

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2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

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2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

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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 ...

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2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

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2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

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

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2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

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2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

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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 1989, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaugur ...

(

( C) **

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football club championship trophy, awarded each year to the club with the best aggregate performance across the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) seasons. The trophy was inaugur ...

(

** NAB Cup (

*Individual **

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, 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-perfo ...

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: 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: 1998, 1999 **Captain of

Geelong Falcons The Geelong Falcons is a youth Australian rules football representative club in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition in Victoria, Australia. The club takes in talented junior players from the Geelong, Colac and Warr ...

(TAC Cup): 1998 **

TAC Cup The Talent League (also known as the Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the NAB League and TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition based in Melbourne and run by the Australian Foot ...

Team of the Year: 1998 **

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

(Under-17) representative honours in International rules football: 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 VFL/AFL premiership players Australian rules football commentators