By sports editor Russell Bennett
“Probably for the first time in about 13 years I’m enjoying playing footy and everything about it – instead of looking at it as a job.” – Cam Pedersen.
For Cam Pedersen, his new footballing home really is where his heart is.
The 193-centimetre ruck-forward – who played 80 games at AFL level across stints with North Melbourne and Melbourne – relocated to Cowes with his wife Sarah and daughters Charlee, Ruby, and Lucy at the end of last season.
A qualified teacher, he began a new journey at Newhaven College on the Island, while he and Sarah – along with her mother – opened a restaurant in Cowes called ‘Citrus and Vine’.
Fortunately for the all-conquering West Gippsland Football Netball Competition (WGFNC) reigning premiers, Phillip Island, the stars were aligning for the now 32-year-old to wear the red, white and blue in 2019.
“We’ve had a house down here for five or six years, a holiday house, and we love the lifestyle once you get over the bridge,” Pedersen told the Gazette.
“I’ve always lived in the eastern suburbs (of Melbourne), but I just wanted to spend more time with the family and the Island was the perfect fit.”
But Pedersen had no existing connection with the Bulldogs prior to this season.
In fact, he met with no less than 24 clubs at local level once it became clear his top-flight career was done.
In the end though, his heart bled true for the red, white, and blue.
And to say he’s enjoyed his footy this season would be one hell of an understatement.
Pedersen has set the competition alight with his brilliant individual play – both in the ruck, and pushing forward – but for him the quest for team success, and helping the Bulldogs try and experience back-to-back senior premiership glory, is far more important.
“I’ve got a competitive streak, and clearly I never want to lose, but probably for the first time in about 13 years I’m enjoying playing footy and everything about it – instead of looking at it as a job,” he acknowledged.
“Yes, we’ve got some really good top-end talent, but we’ve also been playing seven or eight blokes who aren’t even 19. It’s not like it’s an old group and the club doesn’t have anywhere to go with it. We were talking about it the other night – there are just so many under-18 kids who are a genuine chance of playing seniors every week.”
The junior brigade coming through the ranks at ‘The Kennel’ is the envy of most other clubs, not just in the WGFNC, but in the broader Gippsland region.
The performances of the likes of Billy Taylor and Gippsland Power-listed Keith Robinson are testament to that. Robinson, Jaymie Youle, skipper Brendan Kimber, and of course Pedersen were instrumental on Saturday in seeing their side remain undefeated through 17 rounds – courtesy of a hard-fought two-point win over an impressive Tooradin-Dalmore.
And it’s the Island’s younger players, as well as the group’s experienced, older heads, who are keeping the outfit hungry for success.
“We’re the hunted this year, but we go into every game with the mindset of ‘the hunter’,” Pedersen explained.
“We go into every game confident we can win if we play that hard, combative style of footy.”
From his own perspective, Pedersen really does just want to play his role.
Externally, it’s clear that he’s the class of the competition – having taken it by storm – but that’s not at all what drives him. That much is just as obvious.
“Some guys try to take a big mark down back and then sprint through the middle to try and take another one up forward and kick a goal, but you’ve got to have trust in your team mates and don’t think that you’ll have to do everything,” he said.
“Over time I’ve probably got a better balance at that – backing-in team mates, blocking for others, and getting other people into the game. When it comes to my role, Beau (Vernon) is really big on how I can make other people better. It’s not about how many touches or goals I get, myself.”
And clearly, the likes of Kimber, Youle, Hayden Bruce, Zak Vernon, and Mark Griffin are benefiting from Pedersen’s inclusion.
In speaking about Youle and Kimber, in particular, Pedersen’s praise couldn’t be higher.
“They’re ripping blokes, and they’re probably both heart and soul players so you know what you’ll get from them every week – they’ll keep putting their heads over the footy, and they’re both fantastic leaders,” he explained.
And speaking of fantastic leaders who’re the heart and soul of a club, there’s no one who fits the description better than Bulldogs senior coach Beau Vernon.
“He keeps a level head and he keeps that balance between being the blokes’ mate, and their coach really well,” Pedersen explained.
“He’s also great at speaking with both the younger players, and the older blokes. He’s been fantastic, and he’s signed again for next year too which is great.”
Perhaps the only disagreement Pedersen and Vernon have had surrounded interleague this year. In a sign of just how committed he is to his new club and league, Pedersen was hell-bent on playing – despite carrying a sore neck at the time. He wanted to meet some of the opposition clubs’ best players, and form new friendships in his new home competition.
“I’d played for a couple of weeks before that with a sore neck – I couldn’t even turn my head fully – so in hindsight it was probably the right decision to sit out,” he said.
“But hey – there’s always next year.”
That’s one hell of a scary thought for opposition players.
Pedersen signed on for two years when he joined the Island, and sees no reason why he couldn’t keep going well beyond 2020 either.
“I’ll keep playing for as long as I can while I can play well,” he said.
“When I feel like I’m getting too old and can’t do what I want to be able to do, that’s when I’ll step away.
“Kimber’s got a couple of years on me and he’s still flying around all over the place, so surely I’ll have another three years left in me, I hope.”
This is Pedersen’s first full season of senior footy at a local level, and he’s trying to win his first premiership since his Box Hill days – before his time with the Kangaroos and Demons in the AFL. That’s all that really matters, and that’s one hell of an ominous sign for the rest of the season: The undefeated Dogs are being spurred on by a star big man who’s snarling just as hard as any player in the group.
