A reflective Jeremy Cameron is ready to face Harris Andrews for the first time since serving a five-game AFL suspension for his brutal hit on the Brisbane defender.
More than a year has passed since GWS spearhead Cameron ignited a torrent of condemnation, flooring Andrews with an elbow in a scary collision between two players renowned for their attack on the footy.
For Andrews, the consequences were severe.
The young backman was knocked out before he hit the ground, had bleeding on the brain, then returned after four games on the sidelines.
Cameron was subjected to what coach Leon Cameron termed character assassination, with co-captain Phil Davis dubbing commentary about the incident "disgusting" and "slanderous".
"My whole thought about the whole thing was just around making sure Harris was OK," Jeremy Cameron recalled to AAP.
Cameron learned plenty of lessons but the collision hasn't been on his mind while attacking contests this season, nor will it be when GWS host the Lions at Giants Stadium on Sunday.
"Playing footy, you're just in the moment. You look at the ball and want to attack it, mark it, spoil it," Cameron said.
"We were both going quickly, in different directions.
"It's very hard to speak about it, to be honest ... your whole career you might have two or three (of those type of collisions).
"I've been in heaps of situations this year where there's been long kicks in but I've never really had a player coming back flat out while I'm running forward flat out.
"I haven't really changed anything, it's just I haven't been in that situation since."
Recent trolling of Dayne Beams served as the latest reminder of how toxic social media can be.
Taunts directed at Cameron weren't nearly as revolting but he wisely made a point to stay off social media when the saga was unfolding.
"I'm not big on it anyway but as we've seen a lot of players struggle with that sort of thing, it does get you from time to time," he said.
"I copped it a fair bit."
Thankfully for the 26-year-old, there was no such abuse on the streets of Sydney.
"The ones I did run into were Giants supporters ... the people I spoke with about it were pretty understanding, really good," Cameron said.
"It's totally different to Melbourne."
Cameron noted he moved on from the incident a long time ago and is now fully focused on a crunch clash between the fourth-placed Giants and fifth-placed Lions.
"I've watched a few Brisbane games and Harris has been playing some really good footy, their whole team has," the Coleman medal leader said.
"It's a massive game. We know how dangerous they can be, we can't let them get going."
