- May 11, 2006
- 16,589
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- AFL Club
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Cameron Ling
Fast Facts
Jumper No: 45
Height: 189 cm
Weight: 94 kg
DOB: 27 February 1981
Recruited From: Geelong U18
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Same Catman , even at the start of this year I was still calling for his head , how wrong can we be. Ling is really enjoying the challenge each week and I think he is enjoying having the Geelong people behind him again.by the end of last year I thought he was passed it....but this year he has shown you can't keep a good player down. Finally 100% fit and back to playing the role he does best as a tagger. Linger is back.
Same Catman , even at the start of this year I was still calling for his head , how wrong can we be. Ling is really enjoying the challenge each week and I think he is enjoying having the Geelong people behind him again.
Lingers close to if not the most important man in our side at the moment .
Glad I was wrong, hopefully I can say the same about King
Copped a few knocks today, he is a warrior that's for sure, but unfortunatley was beaten by Goodes today
THE final siren sounds. You’re five points down. Who would you trust most with the footy in his hands 40m out to win the game?
Carlton full-forward Brendan Fevola or his Essendon counterpart Matthew Lloyd?
Or even Melbourne’s super-smooth left-footer Brad Green?
Try Geelong’s Cameron Ling.
The man they call “Rockling” has an eye like a dead fish.
Ling has not missed a set shot at goal since Round 7, 2006.
Since that one miss in the third term of a Mother’s Day victory against St Kilda, Ling has steered through an amazing 22 set-shot goals without a miss.
Ling has kicked one from beyond the 50m line and two from right on the paint.
Seven have been within 10m of goal, but Ling has been regularly at his most deadly in the 25-40m range.
Overall, since the start of 2006, Ling has kicked 23.1 from set shots—a strike rate of 95.8 per cent.
Carlton goalsneak Eddie Betts, with 18.4 and a success rate of 81.8 per cent, is his closest challenger for set-shot accuracy.
Ling is renowned more for stopping opponents than slotting goals, but his goalkicking feats had their genesis at under-18 level.
He played full-forward for the Geelong Falcons in 1998 before coach Brian Cordy moved him into a variety of roles in 1999 to improve his chances of being drafted.
“He was a fantastic kick back then, too,” Falcons regional manager Michael Turner said yesterday. “In our grand final side in ‘98, we had Jonathan Brown in our side as well and he stood out as a beautiful kick.”
But Ling, who was less than the 189cm he now stands, was the wrong size and shape for a full-forward.
The under-18s is all about producing draftees and catching the eye. Turner and his mates at the Falcons decided Ling needed a makeover.
Ling was not only moved from full-forward, but also had a fashion transformation.
“Nobody was ever going to draft him at that body shape . . . he did have a bit of a big arse,” Turner said.
“You’ve got to sell the product. I was at him all the time to get his hair cut . . . short back and sides to make him look taller and more athletic.
“We even made alterations to his shorts. The bigger the shorts are, the longer they are in the leg.
“I think he wore a size 18 or 20 and I think we shortened the legs to make his legs look longer.
“I can’t remember if we did it or his mum did it.”
Despite confusion over who pulled out the sewing kit, there is no disputing it worked.
Geelong picked up Ling at No. 38 in the 1999 national draft.
Ling, the left-footed premiership hero, has become clinical in front of goal.
Champion Data research shows his secret lies in winning the ball mostly in the corridor.
Ling’s ability to sneak forward and find space is unparalleled.
But it is not as if all 22 have been “gimmes”.
Only three of his shots have come from the right of the goals, the preferred side for a left-footer, with the other 19 from the left.
If only Travis Cloke could be so effective from set shots.
The Collingwood star has kicked 30.39 since the start of 2006.
Unlike Ling, the left-footed Cloke is struggling from the left side. He has kicked 7.19 when not favoured by the natural curve of a leftie.
SET SHOTS 2006-08
BEST 10
Player G B SR
C.Ling GEEL 23 1 95.8
E.Betts CARL 18 4 81.8
M.Seaby W COAST 30 7 81.1
T.Simmonds RICH 21 5 80.8
J.Farmer FREM 44 11 80.0
J.Charman BRIS 24 6 80.0
D.Giansiracusa W BULL 20 5 80.0
P. Bell FREM 18 5 78.3
A.Yze MELB 18 6 75.0
D.Cox W COAST 18 6 75.0
WORST 10
A.Fiora STK 13 13 50.0
H.McIntosh N MELB 11 11 50.0
M.Bate MELB 11 11 50.0
J.Patfull BRIS 10 12 45.5
L.Ablett SYD 10 12 45.5
D.Hale N MELB 19 23 45.2
T.Cloke COLL 30 39 43.5
D.Hille ESS 14 21 40.0
G.Polak FREM 10 15 40.0
S.Armstrong W COAST 10 15 40.0
SR: Strike rate in percentage terms
Cameron Ling says it's all about the 'process'
March 13th, 2009
GEELONG'S Cameron Ling says the AFL pre-season grand final was a buzz for the Cats three years ago, but is now primarily a chance to hone their "process" for the premiership season.
For Collingwood, the chance to bring some silverware to a club which has not added to their trophy cabinet since 1990 will be a significant incentive at Etihad Stadium tonight.
But for the Cats, most of whom were part of a drought-breaking day premiership in 2007 and last year's bitterly disappointing grand final loss, this year's night decider will lack the gloss of their 2006 pre-season win.
"We probably didn't know what to expect in '06, it was a bit new and exciting," acting captain Cameron Ling said. "Now we're very strong about it just being part of our process.
"We're aiming this week to get our game style right, everything we've been working on over the pre-season.
"We're going to go in with a team very similar to what we'll have round one so we're going to make sure we play as well as we possibly can, work on the things we want to work on.
"We back that if we do that sort of thing then the result will go our way.
"We still want the result but it's more about getting the process right."
Coach Mark Thompson said the 2006 win over Adelaide had been a stepping stone towards greater success that followed.
"To experience that and get some silverware for the club was really important in the whole scope of things," he said.
It is a path the Magpies are keen to follow, with new Collingwood skipper Nick Maxwell comparing his current side to those Cats.
"They've got a lot of guys probably an average age two years older than us at a guess, through the 24s to 26s, I think they've probably got more players (of that age) than we have and they all came through together," Maxwell said.
"So we've got a lot of younger guys who have got a lot of games into them, between 50 and 100 games and we're expecting them to really step up over the next year."
But, like Ling, he said the major aim tonight was to build momentum for round one and beyond.
"We're just mostly thinking about how we can make the step from where we've been the last two years to where Geelong and Hawthorn are as the better teams in the competition," Maxwell said.
RECENTLY retired Geelong captain Cameron Ling has revealed what he's had in the closet since he was a teenager - a No.44 guernsey worn by former Carlton ruckman Justin Madden.