Charlie Cameron’s form a ‘huge issue’ for Brisbane ahead of cut-throat final against Gold Coast

Channel 7 commentator Kane Cornes has raised serious concerns about the form of Brisbane veteran Charlie Cameron ahead of this weekend’s cut-throat semi-final against Gold Coast.

Cornes has previously spoken about Cameron needing a spell in the VFL during the season that yielded just 26 goals and nine matches without kicking a goal.

It’s his worst return since his first season at the club when kicked 17 goals from 11 games.

Against the Cats on Friday night, Cameron kicked the first goal of the match inside two minutes, but that was remarkably his only kick of the game.

He had just one more handball to finish with two disposals — the lowest tally of his 251-game career.

Cornes doesn’t expect the 31-year-old to be dropped by “loyal” coach Chris Fagan, but said his poor body language was a huge issue.

“Chris is very loyal to his players,” Cornes said on SEN.

“I’ve spoken about this a lot — Charlie Cameron looked like he needed a spell four or five weeks ago. (They) Backed him in, he kicked three (against Freo in Round 23) and you think, ‘Ok, he’s backed him in again’.

“But some of his body language — and Derm (Brereton) was hot on this during the call — (was) non-competitive.

“Poor body language, he’s a huge issue for them.

“He (Fagan) won’t drop him.”

Cornes also added that Cameron had some “horrible efforts” in the disappointing loss.

North Melbourne great David King suggested Fagan moves him up the field to get involved more.

“You’ve got to move him. You’ve got to challenge him,” King said.

“Maybe high half-forward, get him up the field, get him involved.

“He’s too good a player to not be touching the ball. He had one kick.

“I want him around the ball more. I want him to start with the mentality of five run-down tackles.

“That’s all we need you to do, and everything you do offensively after that is a bonus.”

The Lions will be forced into at least one change for the semi-final after the shattering season-ending injury to Lachie Neale.

Dual Brownlow medallist Neale hurt his calf in the final quarter against the Cats, his first game since returning from a three-match absence due to a quad injury.

The Lions lost to Sydney without Neale, but then managed to notch important wins over Fremantle and Hawthorn to complete the home-and-away season.

“The last couple of weeks, we’ve managed to fill the void that he left in the team,” fellow midfielder Josh Dunkley told AAP.

“I’m sure whoever it is will be ready to stand up and take that role.’‘

Important forward Eric Hipwood will also take no further part in the Lions’ campaign, after scans revealed a partial tear in his ACL.

Hipwood had missed the final home-and-away game against Hawthorn with a calf injury suffered the previous week in Perth.

Fellow premiership players Jack Payne (knee) and Noah Answerth (achilles) have long been on the sidelines.

Having so many best-23 players unavailable is naturally going to make claiming back-to-back premierships extremely difficult.

But Dunkley believes the Lions could still make an unlikely charge, having to win three straight finals to lift the cup following their comprehensive defeat against the Cats.

“We gave it a red-hot crack,” Dunkley said.

“We didn’t come out on top.

“We know that we can play a lot better than what we did.

“I don’t think there’s any kind of negative emotion in the room.

“Guys are obviously disappointed because you lost ... we just go back to the drawing board and get to work and go again.”

- With AAP