The selection dilemma caused by the injury to Melbourne’s 209cm ruckman Max Gawn leaving him out of the side for the next two to three weeks recalls the panic that spread through the ranks in Simon Goodwin’s first season as coach of the club. It was early in the AFL’s 2017 season when Max, who was the reigning All-Australian ruckman, badly tore his hamstring in Round 3 against Geelong at the Docklands and was facing a lengthy amount of time on the sidelines.

Luckily for the Demons, they had a back up ruckman in the person of 203cm Jake Spencer who was in  his tenth season at the club spent mostly as second fiddle to Mark Jamar and later, to Gawn. He was called up to face Fremantle giant Aaron Sandilands who amassed 53 hit outs to Spencer’s 15 in the Dockers’ surprise 2 point victory at the MCG. Things did not improve in the following match on Anzac Eve against the Tigers when Spencer was given a bath by Toby Nankervis (56 hit outs to 13) in a game where the Demons gave up a 20-point lead at the final break to lose by 13 in the wake of multiple injuries to their players including one to Spencer’s shoulder as the team’s finals hopes plummeted.

Enter 193cm undersized ruckman Cam Pedersen who was called up to the senior side after spending the first five weeks with the Casey Scorpions in the VFL. His first assignment in the role was to take on 203cm Tom Bellchambers. Petersen lowered his colours by 18 to 33 in the hit outs but he fought valiantly as the Demons revived their season with a 38-point win over tomorrow night’s opponents, the Bombers.

George on the Outer wrote in Demonland of his round 6 performance:

 

“The return of Cam Pedersen to the side as a replacement ruck worked really well, for while he may have lost the hit-out stats to Tom Bellchambers, it was he who racked up 19 possessions to Bellchambers' miserable 9. Best of all was that he relieved the necessity for Jack Watts to ruck, which resulted in Watts kicking 4 goals when up forward. How we could have used that scenario in the final quarter last week!”

 

Pedersen didn’t dominate the hit out stats by any means - against Adelaide, Sam Jacobs amassed a 74 hit outs but Melbourne won by 41 points. The point was that Petersen contested everything and became an asset around the ground where he played the best football of his career despite being matched against much larger adversaries such as Ben McEvoy, Jacobs, Todd Goldstein and Brodie Grundy. He was also capably assisted by Tom McDonald who was handy when called upon to give him a chop out.

 

By the time, Gawn was ready to return to take his place in the ruck in round 14, the Demons were in fifth place on the ladder. While Pedersen was a handy back up who continued to play some top football, the team was squeezed out of the finals race by the narrowest of margins after the final home and away game of the season.

 

Incidentally, Pedersen who was drafted as a rookie by North Melbourne made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2011 season in the ruck against West Coast’s six-time All-Australian ruckman Dean Cox after Goldstein was a late withdrawal for the Kangaroos. He acquitted himself quite well in that position and gained the title of his team's "Mr fix-it" but fell out of favour and became a Demon in 2013. His first game was in a forward/ruck role in the club’s disastrous round 1 game against Port Adelaide when he was criticised for ducking when backing back to take a mark. After struggling in 2013 under Mark Neeld, he resurrected his career under Paul Roos in 2014 and went through highs and lows until he was thrust into the Demon ruck in that round 6, 2017 game against the Bombers.

 

These are the teams for that game:-

 

ESSENDON

 

B: Patrick Ambrose, Michael Hurley, Martin Gleeson 
HB: Mark Baguley, Mitch Brown, Ben McNiece 
C: Travis Colyer, Zach Merrett, Andrew McGrath 
HF: Orazio Fantasia, Cale Hooker, David Zaharakis 
F: Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Joe Daniher, Brendon Goddard 
FOLL: Tom Bellchambers, Ben Howlett, Dyson Heppell 
I/C: Josh Green, Conor McKenna, Darcy Parish, Jobe Watson 
EMG: Kyle Langford,Brent Stanton, James Stewart

 

IN: Tom Bellchambers, Martin Gleeson, Ben Howlett, Kyle Langford, Conor McKenna, James Stewart

 

OUT: Aaron Francis (rested), James Kelly (rested), Matt Leuenberger (rested),Brent Stanton (omitted)

 

MELBOURNE 

 

B: Michael Hibberd, Tom McDonald, Neville Jetta 
HB: Jordan Lewis, Sam Frost, Bernie Vince 
C: Jayden Hunt, Nathan Jones,  Jake Melksham 
HF: Christian Petracca, Jack Watts, Alex Neal-Bullen 
F: Jay Kennedy-Harris, Mitch Hannan, Jeff Garlett 
FOLL: Cameron Pedersen, Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney 
I/C: Tomas Bugg, Oscar McDonald, Christian Salem, Dom Tyson
EMG: James Harmes, Billy Stretch, Sam Weideman

 

IN: Tomas Bugg, Mitch Hannan, Jordan Lewis, Oscar McDonald, Cameron Pedersen

 

OUT: James Harmes (omitted), Jesse Hogan (family bereavement), Jake Spencer (shoulder), Timothy Smith (lung), Billy Stretch (omitted)

 

Pedersen announced his retirement on 25 September 2018 after 64 games with Melbourne and 16 with North Melbourne. It's a late call to make almost six years after his retirement, but when all is said and done, Pedersen’s role as an undersized ruckman against giant opponents made him a modern day marvel.

 

Here’s hoping that Harrison Petty who is four centimetres taller, can replicate Pedersen’s efforts from seven years ago!

 

At least spell his name right.

1 minute ago, dazzledavey36 said:

At least spell his name right.

Peto doesn't have the same ring to it as Pedo!!

9 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

At least spell his name right.

Selective spell check in operation 

1 minute ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Selective spell check in operation 

Inconsistent spell check, too.

At various points his name appears as Pedersen (correct), Petersen and Pederson.

9 minutes ago, Left Foot Snap said:

Peto doesn't have the same ring to it as Pedo!!

We had a lot of fun with that "Pedo" nickname back when he was running around.

In regards to this thread. One of my all time favourites, absolute workhorse who I thought was harshly dealt with at times when Roosy would pick Chris 'bucket hands' Dawes over him at times.

13 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

At least spell his name right.

Lucky the club didn’t replace Maxy with Fullerton, otherwise you’d be having a heart attack. 😀

And one of the nicest, most down to earth people that a supporter could meet. No bath water went near him (figuratively speaking).

3 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

Inconsistent spell check, too.

At various points his name appears as Pedersen (correct), Petersen and Pederson.

True. Most of the time, the spell check didn’t change the name. The spell check operated separately on the title to the thread as well as on the text. No idea why.

43 minutes ago, Longsufferingnomore said:

And one of the nicest, most down to earth people that a supporter could meet. No bath water went near him (figuratively speaking).

Saw him sitting in the Northern Stand many times, chatting with families. Very decent fella, happy to talk to anyone

Now a primary teacher playing footy down at Philip Island, if my memory serves me correctly 

Edited July 12, 2024Jul 12 by Moonshadow

Didn't Cam kick 4 goals in a quarter?

So much love for Cam, hit the packs harder than anyone in the red and blue since Neita.

A great team man - played any role asked.  BTW how short a team did we play with that day

Pedersen was a great contributor when called upon, but the key line in that article is that his presence allowed teammates such as Jack Watts to play their preferred roles. 

Goodwin clearly has a short memory if he thinks that weakening the forward line by playing Van Rooyen and Petty in the ruck is the best thing for the team. 

51 minutes ago, poita said:

Pedersen was a great contributor when called upon, but the key line in that article is that his presence allowed teammates such as Jack Watts to play their preferred roles. 

Goodwin clearly has a short memory if he thinks that weakening the forward line by playing Van Rooyen and Petty in the ruck is the best thing for the team. 

Bringing Petty in shouldn't weaken the forward line as long as he's rucking a good 70-80% of the match. Short stints from Turner, McDonald and JVR will keep our structure sound.

2 hours ago, Fritta and Turner said:

Didn't Cam kick 4 goals in a quarter?

Cam's best goal haul for us in a match was 3 which he did several times. He did however boot 3 in a final quarter (against GC, I think) in a runaway 10 goal win.

Here's a great vid from YT featuring some of Cam's best work during his time in the red and blue.

 

Edited July 12, 2024Jul 12 by Demon Jack

I always thought he did a great job as a second forward to Hogan. Often decoyed and created space for him. Was thinking about this the other day as we struggle to do this now.

3 hours ago, Little Richard said:

So much love for Cam, hit the packs harder than anyone in the red and blue since Neita.

Jvrs not doing too bad.

Considering we were winning about once every six months at the time, the sealer from the boundary line against Carlton ranks as one of the great modern MFC goals.

19 hours ago, poita said:

Pedersen was a great contributor when called upon, but the key line in that article is that his presence allowed teammates such as Jack Watts to play their preferred roles. 

Goodwin clearly has a short memory if he thinks that weakening the forward line by playing Van Rooyen and Petty in the ruck is the best thing for the team. 

My take was the opposite - Petty is Cam Pedersen in this scenario, albeit a better player to begin with. 

If Gawn wasn’t injured, Petty would have still been selected and it would have been Disco Turner dropped. So think of it is Petty replacing Gawn and Turner replacing Petty.

From whipping boy to club cult hero!  Loved the passion, determination and effort that he brought to us, especially 2017.

 

22 hours ago, Demon Jack said:

Cam's best goal haul for us in a match was 3 which he did several times. He did however boot 3 in a final quarter (against GC, I think) in a runaway 10 goal win.

Here's a great vid from YT featuring some of Cam's best work during his time in the red and blue.

 

There are just so many instances of Cam's excellence - just about every single one of these, fond memories and terms of endearment to his efforts and skills. Boy 'o boy, could we do with another one of this fella given the No.21 to wear with pride. 

Classic big utility player.

Edited July 13, 2024Jul 13 by Demonised
Second thought