Joel Selwood ... more than just a warrior
Joel Selwood plays football in one direction - forward. There is little deviation in his thinking, movement, and beliefs, serving him, and his team well, for the last 350 games. Yes, an understatement right there!
Any coach, me included, prays for individuals like Selwood to walk through the door. Ready-made players who are good-to-go from day one. They are a godsend to coaches and their teams.
And, many coaches will confide, reluctantly, that they need many different pieces to make up the perfect jigsaw, and those pieces are not always easily found. Selwood plays a role that is easy to define, but hard to perform. Younger players tend to prefer the outside game. He opted for the inside. Also, most importantly, his coach and the team entrusted him with this, from the outset.
Selected in the 2006 Australian Football League (AFL) draft. Selwood was drafted seventh overall, and was Geelong’s first pick. There are many well documented horror draft stories, but this was a winning match for both player and club. Today, the pairing remains strong as ever.
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When Selwood walked through the door, Geelong was ‘on the nose.’ A watershed loss at home to North Melbourne, 2007 (Round 5), resulted in a kangaroo court inquisition, which in short, exposed shortcomings that were eventually owned by the players, and the wider dressing-room. Joel Selwood was playing his fifth game, and was easily best-on-ground for the Cats. It was said “he brought a steel and a hunger that at times bordered on disturbing”. Geelong, at that time, being described as “provincial, parochial, happy with mediocrity, but poisoned by it too”.
Selwood immediately went about changing this perception. It feels to me that he worried little about the external perspective; his motivation was to help change the internal mechanisations that did not resonate. Being ‘happy with mediocrity’ would not sit well with the Bendigo native. An elite sporting family had conditioned Selwood in a way that only a few can.
For the record, the Selwood brothers hold the combined AFL/VFL games record, with Joel extending the gap as each week passes. Twins - Adam and Troy, and the youngest brother, Scott all outstanding players in their own right. This milestone will obviously be increasingly hard to surpass. The famous Danhier clan sit second on the ladder.
He quickly realigned Geelong, dragging it kicking and screaming into contention year after year. First as a rising star, then as vice-captain, and now as captain in his own right. In the early part of his journey there were valuable learnings garnered from both Tom Harley, and Cameron Ling, his respective captains.
Looking back on his early career, the individual and team achievements are truly astonishing. He set a VFL/AFL record with a 92% winning percentage in his first 50 games (46–4), and was a member of three premiership teams in his first five seasons: (2007, 2009, and 2011), the last of which as vice-captain. There was an AFL rising star award, and an AFL players association award for ‘best first year player’. Add to this three Carji Greeves Best and Fairest Medal’s: 2010, 2013 and 2014. Extraordinary.
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Talking on the radio this morning with Rob Cameron (Pulse 94.7), we concluded that in-the-moment, it is hard to appreciate the enormity of individual achievements. One week rolls into the next, game after game, finals, and before you know it, another season is in the books. There seems little time for consideration. And, then, we are forced to stop, and give appropriate time and thought to a player when a milestone is reached. Again, 350 games is an enormous individual contribution to the game of AFL football. So, here we are, looking back on the achievements of a remarkable player, one who is both unique and common in his methods.
Geelong are fortunate to have such a durable, dependable, and acutely cognitive player leading them.
Joel Selwood was born to compete. An easy same-sport comparable would be Luke Hodge. Both have relied on natural instincts throughout their careers, and a natural want to, and need, to problem-solve. They thrive in the unpredictable vacuum of leadership.
Would Steve Smith be a cross-sport comparable? Smith too, started his career not long out of school. His apprenticeship was short and confined to an ‘on the tools’ education. Continually bouncing around an Australian team that was trying to find itself. If you walk down Moorabool Street, Geelong, in the shadows of GMHBA stadium, and look east, you will see a poster of both Selwood, and Smith. The local sports store has chosen to market them both as role-models to their youthful, expectant clientele.
Yes, I know, there was a significant blip in the journey of Steve Smith, which is not for here; however, there are many character traits shared, and leadership continues outside the auspices of officialdom. I believe the poignant of all acronyms is: LWT (Lead without title)
I don’t believe it is, or was, a pretence on Saturday night when Selwood was so reverent to his interviewee. Also, visibly thanking the fans of Geelong in the appropriate manner. Pretence - NO - but, there seemed a want to be done with all of this, and be with the game, with his team. In the contest.
That’s my view, and you also have the view of his coach - Chris Scott.
Scott describes him as a “carer”.
He went on to say, “It might be a little bit of a soft word to attach to such a tough guy, but he’s always thinking about other people.”
And, “That’s what I saw out on the ground too, he’s not going out to wave to the crowd and accept all the adulation, he’s going out there to thank them and show his appreciation for being a part of his big night and big career”.
I believe Joel Selwood is a lot more than just a ‘warrior' - he is also greater than many of the adjectives used to describe his play and personality. To me, he is best left to only the best behavioural profilers, he is as deep and intense as the eyes we see on the football field.
For the record, the Cats recorded their 15th win of 2022. They sit atop of the ladder, Captain and Coach seem suitably aligned, and there is much to look forward to through August and September.
I take my Tigers hat off to Mr Joel Selwood. Arguably, Geelong’s most important player ever. Period.
Ps. As always, thank you for being here.
And an appendix of Joel Selwood’s career at the 350 game mark …
Triple Premiership player (2007, 2009 and 2011)
Six-time All-Australian (2009, 2010, 2013(c), 2014(c), 2016(c), 2017)
Geelong games record holder (350)
Three time captain of the All-Australian team
3× Carji Greeves Medal: (2010, 2013, 2014) - Geelong Best & Fairest
Geelong captain: (2012–)
Most games played as an AFL captain (238)
Selwood is 4th all-time in most wins played in (253) behind Michael Tuck, Shaun Burgoyne and Kevin Bartlett and first among active players.
He is 2nd for most finals played in (37), two behind Michael Tuck, and the most among active players.
He has laid the most tackles in VFL/AFL history (1775)
He is a 4-time AFLPA Robert Rose Most Courageous Player Award winner (2009, 2012, 2013, 2014)