During a 10-minute purple patch in the final term of the Kangaroos’ 17-point loss to Hawthorn on Sunday, Campbell kicked four goals and almost dragged his side across the line in a must-win contest.
He finished with five goals for the day, but even his stunning solo performance couldn’t ease the pain of a loss that almost certainly consigned North Melbourne to another season without finals football.
Battling against a strong breeze in the last quarter at Launceston’s Aurora Stadium, Campbell’s fifth goal wrested the lead from Hawthorn in time-on but the Roos couldn’t get across the line.
"We just got the ball in and gave ourselves the opportunity," Campbell said.
"If it wasn’t me it would have been Lindsay [Thomas] or even Harvs [Brent Harvey] could have got on the end of one.
"I suppose I was just in the right spot at the right time. The boys gave their all in the last quarter when we had to give something against the wind.
"They [Hawthorn] are a great side and great sides know how to win, I suppose."
Campbell managed to get in behind the Hawthorn defence on a couple of occasions and put at least part of his final quarter haul down to coach Brad Scott’s tactical nous.
"We tried to get the talls up [the ground] because we knew it was hard going into the wind and getting the small blokes out the back like myself and Lindsay and Kieran Harper," he said.
"It felt like we got the ball in there enough, there were enough opportunities for us to score and we did that.
"But it just goes to show if you let them through once or twice they get some goals. We probably needed to get another one once we got in front, to really put some pressure on. You can see the boys are pretty gutted here today and it’s just another four points that’s slipped."
Campbell’s work was cancelled out by a three-goal burst at the other end of the ground from Hawks superstar Lance Franklin.
But while Franklin’s cameo wasn’t entirely unexpected, Campbell admitted his bag broke new ground for him.
"Not four in a quarter. I’ve kicked four in a game and maybe one or two in a row in a quarter," he said.
"Every time the ball came in I was able to beat my man, and he’d beaten me pretty comprehensively for three quarters.
"I suppose I willed myself to fight for every contest and that’s what we talked about. Fight for every contest and every inch and the boys did that, just a couple of things let us down."
Both sides struggled to come to terms with the cold, wet conditions at Aurora Stadium, but for Campbell the weather wasn’t a contributing factor in the loss.
"When you get the ball, it puts doubt on where you’re going to kick it, but you play footy outdoors," he said.
"We’re lucky enough we’ve got the last three games at Etihad so you don’t have to worry about that.
"Who knows? You’ve got to get the practice because you might get out there on the MCG one day in a final."
But there’s plenty of hard work in store for the Kangaroos if they are to feature in September this year.
"We’ve got to put all our energies into the bye now and recovery and get the rest we need," Campbell said.
"Three big weeks coming up after that. It’s pretty much three games left of the season and if we can get those three wins you never know.
"All we can do is hold up our end of the bargain and win those games and I suppose we’ll sit back in Round 24 and see what happens."
