One of the Australian Football League’s most decorated veterans has put an end to months of swirling off-season speculation: star forward Jeremy Cameron is set to remain a Geelong Cat through the 2028 season, locking in his future with the club until well after his 35th birthday.
Cameron put pen to paper on his new contract on Thursday afternoon, alongside three other Geelong players who also secured contract extensions. Young utility Jhye Clark will also stay with the Cats through 2028, while veteran forward Jack Martin extended his deal to run through the end of the 2027 season.
The 33-year-old forward, a fan favorite and cornerstone of Geelong’s recent success, was already under contract through 2027. The one-year extension eliminates all uncertainty around his career plans heading into the 2027 AFL season, ending ongoing questions from fans and media about whether he would consider retirement or a move to another club before hanging up his boots.
Cameron’s resume with the Cats (and earlier with Greater Western Sydney) cements his status as one of the greatest forwards of his generation: across 296 career games, he has claimed a 2022 AFL premiership with Geelong, five selections to the All-Australian team – including a captaincy nod in 2025 – two Coleman Medals (awarded to the league’s leading goalkicker each season, earned in 2019 and 2025), and the 2022 Carji Greeves Medal, awarded to Geelong’s best and fairest player each year.
Andrew Mackie, Geelong’s General Manager of Football, highlighted that Cameron’s value to the club stretches far beyond his on-field goal-kicking and match-winning plays. “He remains an important player for us, and we’re thrilled he’ll continue to play an integral role through the extension of his contract,” Mackie said in a statement following the announcement of the new deals.
Mackie also shared praise for young midfielder Jhye Clark, whose new extension through 2028 caps a remarkable comeback arc in his young career. After a slow start to his AFL tenure that saw him spend an extended stretch developing in the Victorian Football League (the AFL’s second-tier competition), Clark fought his way back into the senior Cats side in the second half of the 2026 season, where he has already made his presence felt. “The young midfielder has worked hard at his craft and has come back into the AFL side and [is] having a strong impact,” Mackie said.