Cam McCarthy funeral: Fremantle Dockers players gather at cemetery for moving service

Former Fremantle player Cameron McCarthy has been remembered as a “warm and engaging” man who “walked to the beat of his own drum” during a moving service in Perth’s south on Wednesday morning.

And McCarthy’s family has described the heartbreaking moment they received the life-changing phone call informing them of his death, aged 29, during a camping holiday.

West Coast star and close friend Tom Barrass was a pallbearer and Dockers captain Alex Pearce walked behind the hearse as current and former teammates and football figures joined the more than 100 mourners to pay their respects at Fremantle Cemetery.

McCarthy’s father Graham read a touching eulogy and told how he was on holiday in Coral Bay when they received the call no parent wants to receive.

“We got the phone call about 5.30pm that night (Thursday, May 8) and had had a couple of ales that afternoon,” he told the gathering.

“We couldn’t believe it. His Mum and I were just in shock.

“The next day, the 14-hour drive towing the caravan, just gave us time to think. We talked, cried, cried a bit more.

“We got home to our beautiful daughters … it was just good to wrap our arms around our daughters and get through what happened.

“We loved him to death, he left a mark on everything he did.”

McCarthy was also described as a “gentle, at times troubled, soul” who struggled to open up about his own battles.

Mr McCarthy said the AFL Players Assocation kept in close contact with his son after his playing career ended in 2021 and urged former players to use the association’s services more regularly.

He also thanked the clubs and players that paid tribute to his son in the hours and days after his passing.

Both the Dockers and Giants held moments of silence before their matches in round nine.

“I’d like to acknowledge GWS, the Dockers, Essendon and Sydney for the games that were played in the weekend of the passing of Cam,” Mr McCarthy said.

“To the Eagles players that also wore their armbands with the support staff and to the rest of the players around the country ... (I) watched a lot of football that weekend and it was pretty touching.”

Mr McCarthy described the night his son met Barrass at State under-18’s training and told his father about a “nice bloke” from Claremont.

“They just formed this bond that is still going strong to this day,” he said.

“We’re forever grateful, mate, he loved you to death.”

Family said McCarthy “ran before he walked” and was a sports-obsessed child and “had to be outdoors and active”.

McCarthy played cricket for Fremantle as a junior and colts for South Fremantle. He briefly took on a plumbing apprenticeship before being drafted and moving to Sydney.

His father said being drafted “wasn’t a dream” for the young forward because he didn’t see it as a realistic career and the family felt their son was “plucked out of nowhere” by the Giants.

His sisters Hannah and Jessica also both gave eulogies, describing the bubbly personality that also resonated through his three football clubs.

“Our one-of-a-kind, charismatic and larger-than-life brother, every room Cam walked into he graced with his infectious smile and bubbly personality, and I have no doubt everyone here can vouch for that,” Hannah said.

“Cam, Jess and myself were the best of friends and, lucky enough, we did everything together late in life.

“In Cam’s spare time, he loved hanging around us and his best mates for an ice-cold beer and as he would describe it ‘having fat chats’.”

The sisters told how McCarthy had “the confidence to take on the world” and shared stories of him singing and dancing “like his life depended on it”.

“He was an athlete, a singer, a dancer, sometimes a rapper — an all-round performer really.

“But most of all he was the light in any room and the world is a whole lot darker and our hearts a whole lot more heavier without him.”

In her own tearful tribute, Jessica added: “We will never stop loving you and will try our best to make you proud”.

“Rest easy our beautiful big brother. Forever 29. Forever young.”

Former teammates Nathan Wilson, Griffin Logue, Brandon Matera, Stefan Giro, Travis Colyer and Aaron Sandilands were among the mourners, alongside current Fremantle players Michael Walters, Luke Ryan, Sean Darcy, Matt Taberner and James Aish, while Eagles defender Jeremy McGovern also attended the service.

Coach Justin Longmuir and chief executive Simon Garlick, South Fremantle coach Todd Curley, McCarthy’s former manager Colin Young and AFL Player’s Association representative Danny Southern also paid their respects.