There were only 16 minutes until the trade deadline seven years ago when Charlie Cameron’s wish to leave Adelaide and become a Lion was finally granted.

The Brisbane Lions’ rags-to-riches rise – from perennial strugglers and losing the “go-home five” to this year’s AFL premiers – had an earlier origin, but the Cameron deal was a significant turning point.

Charlie Cameron won his first AFL premiership on Saturday, seven years after joining the Lions from Adelaide.Credit: AFL Photos

The cheeky goal sneak, so well known for his Take Me Home, Country Roads goal celebrations that Lions fans sung it as he left the grand final podium, was the first of a conga line of high-profile recruits who transformed them into a destination club under Chris Fagan.

A 33-year-old Luke Hodge, with 305 games and four flags’ experience with Hawthorn, arrived in the same trade period charged with providing leadership, cultural and mentoring gains.

“Me and ‘Hodgey’ came at the same time, and it was pretty tough in 2018 because I didn’t get my first win until round nine,” Cameron told this masthead after the Lions’ grand final win.

“Everyone was like, ‘Why are you going there?’, and I just saw an opportunity to make myself a better player, be closer to family, and be part of something.”

The big names kept rolling in: Lachie Neale (2019) – following a covert mid-season meeting in Darwin after the Fremantle-Melbourne game that year, between the then-Docker, his agent Tim Lawrence and Brisbane list manager Dom Ambrogio – Joe Daniher (2020) and Josh Dunkley........

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