Charman was born in Maryborough in Queensland. His father Eddie had moved to Maryborough from Euroa in Victoria.[2] He was raised in Brisbane and attended St Joseph's College, Nudgee where he played for the school in Year (1996 to 1999)[3][4] Charman began playing Australian football at the age of 7 at Sandgate Football Club, encouraged by his father who was a member of Euroa's Team of the Century.[2] Charman snubbed rugby at Nudgee to continue pursue Australian rules at club level. In 2000 he moved to Cairns, Queensland to study education where he briefly played in the AFL Cairns junior competition.[2] Charman was also a champion swimmer, coming 3rd in backstroke at the Queensland Under 18 national carnival.[2] However he chose to stick with football with Sandgate and his decision paid off as he was recruited by Brisbane with the 29th pick in the 2000 AFL Draft.
