Collingwood ruck Darcy Cameron's 2026 has been like no other year in his life.
Firstly, his role in the Magpies' side altered at the start of the season. The ruck rules he had forged his career in changed, benefitting leaping rucks instead, which led him into a 50-50 ruck split with the emerging Oscar Steene.
At the start of the season, it put a question mark on his capacity to keep impacting the contest as he had in previous years. His impact in 2025 was so profound he beat superstar Nick Daicos to club best-and-fairest honours.
However, in the early days of the new Pies ruck partnership, an unfortunate ACL injury to Steene ended his season and meant Cameron was given the sole ruck responsibility once again.
"It was steady in the first half of the year, you know, sharing the load with Steeney. It was a new look for me, and that was going along nicely, especially with Steeney, showing that he's an AFL footballer, which is really pleasing," Cameron told Zero Hanger.
"And then after (Steene) went down, I had to take on a lot of the load. But I think I grew into the season nicely.
"I was going okay before that, but I think I got back to my probably 2025 season standards."
The second reason as to why 2026 has been a year unlike any other for Cameron occurred in June, when he and his fiancée Adriana welcomed their first child, Bruna, into the world.
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Following his daughter's birth, Cameron has averaged 18 disposals and 27.3 hit-outs (up from 19.5 across the first 11 games) per outing, and Collingwood has a much-improved record of 7-1-3.
So could Cameron's newborn child be a good luck charm for Collingwood?
"Yeah, maybe she's the reason (for the club's turnaround)," he said with a smile.
"(Having a child) gives you a new perspective. And you have a bad game, you come home, and they don't really know, and I don't really care (about the game).
"In my case, a beautiful daughter is there when you get home. So it's good to come back to.
"(The new ruck rules are) probably another thing that's sort of helped change my form a little bit. In the first half (of the season) I was getting used to it.
"Umpires, I think, were also getting used to it; when to pay free kicks and when not to, with rucks flying through. I'm used to it now.
"I feel like Greg Stafford (Collingwood ruck coach) has done a mountain of work for all of us rucks here at the club, and he has really helped me and helped me grow in confidence with it."
Cameron has a big challenge in front of him this Friday with Dogs ruck Tim English a chance to return from injury for the must-win clash.
The 31-year-old said the Bulldogs' engine room mix of English, Ed Richards and Marcus Bontempelli poses a serious threat to the Pies.
"(English) obviously got a great leap and really tall in there, and so is (Rory) Lobb," he said.
"Anytime you can get that ball to ground really, and not feed it down to Ed Richards or Marcus Bontempelli, it's usually a win.
"Hopefully, there is a bit of spill ball, because they're a really good contested team and fast with their hands, so just limiting that will be a focus."
Collingwood had a slow start to the season, but despite an onslaught of injuries, the Pies have improved in the second half of 2026.
Coach Craig McRae has got the best out of his playing group while going deep into the list. Key forward Daniel McStay and key defender Billy Frampton are having career-best breakout seasons despite the former being 31 and the latter 29.
Cameron said the environment McRae has created club-wide helps people become their best selves.
"(Players) just feel like they are able to enjoy football and you get a childhood feeling where you're excited to play football on the weekends, you don't have the angst around it," he said.
"Which I know that a lot of clubs do; you just have to do it right and play footy, and you get rewarded for the little things.
"It's not about your stature at all. It's just about playing your role, and it might look like four touches some games, but it's celebrated in here, so I think that's why people are able to, like Billy Frampton, have such a good year for those reasons."
