AFL Grand Final 2022: The stories behind the players at Geelong and Sydney
‘A very special human’ and ‘incredible’ is how Geelong teammates have described Joel Selwood this week. But former skipper Cameron Ling wasn’t always convinced. Here’s why.
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Just a handful of seasons into Joel Selwood’s AFL career at Geelong, his former captain Cameron Ling wondered about the tough young midfielder’s longevity in the game.
Not because he wasn’t any good; Selwood had already proven himself to be a rising star in his debut year in the league when he won the first of his three premierships with the Cats.
Ling’s worry was about the way Selwood played the game and the relentless intensity that has become his hallmark over his 16-year career.
“I remember thinking at the time when we were two or three years into his career that this guy is going to have the greatest 250-game career of anyone and then just hit the wall because his body won’t be able to do it anymore,” Ling said.
“He played it so hard. The way that he played and the almost reckless way that he attacked the footy and his thirst for the contest, I thought that he would have a slightly shorter career than this one.
“What has astounded me is that he has kept going right through to 350 games and he is still playing at a level like he displayed in that qualifying final (against Collingwood) and is still driving his team with the standards and the way that he plays.
“That’s unbelievable. I never saw a massive longevity beyond 300 games for Joel because of simply the way that he played.
“So he still continues to amaze me.”
In a season when he has already broken the 350-game milestone, that longevity will extend to a record-breaking 40th AFL final in Saturday’s premiership decider against Sydney at the MCG.
Selwood will pass Hawthorn great Michael Tuck’s record for VFL/AFL finals played when he lines up in his sixth grand final for the Cats – 15 years after his first.
It’s a fitting milestone – and occasion – for a player who was simply born for finals footy.
“It’s pretty remarkable when you think about it. You’re talking about almost two full seasons of football in finals, 40 games,” Ling said.
“He would probably never admit this, but he would love the fact that he has played in 40 finals because that’s the test of a truly great player to be part of great teams that are competing deep into finals year after year.
“That would be a feather in his cap he would be very very proud of, although being the selfless person he is, he would probably never admit that publicly. But deep down the competitive side of him would love that.”
Geelong forward and long-time teammate Tom Hawkins said the inspirational skipper’s game was made for the finals stage.
“He won’t blow his GPS up by running any top speeds, but his game is built for finals,” the Cats’ spearhead said.
“He’s brutal in the contest; he’ll lead the way and make the right decisions when the ball is in his hand - what he has delivered for, what are we up to now, almost 360 games.
“I can’t wait to play with him on Saturday.”
It has already been a year full of milestones for 34-year-old Selwood.
He broke Carlton great Stephen Kernahan’s AFL record (226) earlier this year for most games as captain and became the first Geelong player to reach 350 games.
While his leadership is considered peerless, there is one accolade Selwood is missing as a captain - a premiership.
He was a member of the Cats’ flag-winning teams in 2007, 2009 and 2011, but did not take over the Geelong captaincy until 2012.
Ling, Selwood’s 2011 premiership captain, has been charged with the honour of presenting the premiership cup to Selwood and Geelong coach Chris Scott should the Cats salute in Saturday’s grand final.
The former skipper said a premiership as captain would be the ultimate honour for Selwood, but his credentials as one of the game’s greatest leaders were rock-solid regardless.
“He does not need it to solidify all of that in my eyes, but it would be the ultimate icing on top,” Ling said.
“It would just be something that he would thoroughly deserve. He would hate the fact that I am even individualising him, he would prefer it to be about the team’s achievement.
“But I just think there would be nothing better than that sight as a Cats’ fan and a former teammate of his to see him hold up that premiership cup, with ‘Scotty’ who has been an outstanding coach for a long period of time now.
“To have those two guys holding it up, that would just be an incredible moment as I am picturing it in my head right now.”
Selwood’s teammates have almost run out of superlatives for their fearless leader, but are in no doubt as to his impact on the club and the team’s flag push.
“He is such a special person and we are a very fortunate organisation to have him at the head of it and to be led by him,” star midfielder Patrick Dangerfield said.
“(His impact on) the town, to this building, it’s hard to quantify in words - 40 finals this week.
“He typifies everything that we want to be as players and he lives his life on and off the field that way. He is the ultimate competitor, but his care for others, empathy is quite extraordinary.
“It’s superhuman the level of detail in terms of knowing people and how they tick, he is a very special human.”
While in contrast to being an on-field “animal”, Ling said it was Selwood’s care for others which he loved most about his former teammate.
“I didn’t have kids at the time when we played, but even after we stopped playing together Joel still turned up to one of my kids’ birthdays and brought him along a footy jumper and a pair of socks, little things like that I’ve always felt were most special about him,” Ling said.
“He is a guy that is captaining a footy club and has probably zero time on his hands and he could still turn up for an old teammate who played with him 100 years ago and wish his son a happy birthday because he happens to be his favourite player.
“Little things like that, I adore that sort of stuff about ‘Sel’.
“Again he has done that since he was 18, just a really caring nature that does not always come across in the way that he plays his footy because he is an animal when he is on the field, but off the field he is a very loving, caring, supportive person.”
Cats’ forward Jeremy Cameron said while he and Selwood were different in the way they approached football, he said the captain could not be more supportive since he arrived at the club.
“He has been incredible, Joel. Such an important player but even better person,” Cameron said.
“The Geelong community has been really lucky to have him as a leader of the club for so long, his 40th final coming up, breaking a record, which is just incredible.
“It’s probably one of 10 milestones he has had this year and he has still got the desire and will to play well each and every week like he did in his first game that he played.
“For me personally, he has been incredible. We are very different in how we prepare. He is one of those ones that is really invested in football in a different way to me, but he allows me to flourish and do the things that I do to make me play my best footy.
“We’re two opposites in that way, but it’s been great for him to allow me to do that. It takes the stress off my shoulders a bit.”
Triple premiership player. Six-time All-Australian (three times as captain). Club games record holder and three-time club best-and-fairest.
Regardless of whether he adds premiership captain to that list or not, Ling had no doubt as to Selwood’s standing at Geelong.
“I think his impact has been the greatest as a player in the Geelong Football Club’s history,” Ling said.
“I mean that as an entire package of his playing ability, his leadership and his captaincy, his qualities as a person and the standards that he has set and driven for such a long period of time.
“I won’t go on and on and say why different players have had higher ceilings in terms of playing ability like the Abletts and things like that, but …. I think when you package that all together, he is the greatest in Geelong history.”
Fake Twitter post sent maligned Cat’s wife in to panic
- Scott Gullan
The fake Twitter post which circulated a couple of hours before Friday night’s preliminary final had Geelong ruckman Rhys Stanley being a late withdrawal.
It was photoshopped to look exactly like the official Geelong Cats Twitter page and it had the MCG buzzing with some media outlets even going with the news.
In many ways the stunt summed up Stanley’s career as he is seemingly circling in this vortex of doubt the whole time. That’s why him being dropped before the biggest game of the season made sense to so many because it has happened before.
In 2019 he was dumped from the team an hour before the qualifying final against Collingwood, a decision which backfired on coach Chris Scott as Pies ruckman Brodie Grundy then proceeded to lead his team to victory.
“I only saw it (the tweet) after the game,” Stanley explains. “My wife (Kirsten) had a little panic before the game as she was thinking what’s going on here. They then figured out it was photoshopped but as I was warming up there was a message sent back to the wife saying, ‘No, he’s definitely playing’.”
Late change 🔄 Sam Menegola replaces Rhys Stanley (omitted) in the side. Brandan Parfitt is our medical sub.#AFLCatsLions#GeelongStrongpic.twitter.com/Y1xCrEI0MQ
— savmegafan (@GeeIongCats) September 16, 2022
Despite 124 games in eight seasons at Kardinia Park, Cats fans still aren’t sure about their No. 1 ruckman.
It’s a close contest between the 200cm big man and forward Gary Rohan for who is the most maligned but through all the uncertainty and criticism, Stanley just keeps fronting up and generally getting the job done.
“I’m sort of concerned about the stuff internally not really externally, I don’t read a thing, I don’t watch anything,” he says.
“I don’t read it as it gets my nose out of joint a bit when I read a lot of it so I just leave it.
“I think the ones that know are inside the walls here so they are the ones I trust and listen to. Scotty has been great for me, he has always had my back and we’ve got a great relationship. (Assistant coach) Nige Lappin has done a lot of work with me and has been fantastic as well over the journey.
“I don’t know if there is any added pressure, I find that pressure in any footy club. The ruck is not an easy position to play, you are sort of one out, you are out there in the middle and all eyes are on you.
“You have got to perform and when you don’t you come under fire.”
Stanley’s body has previously let him down at inappropriate times which has been more fuel for the critics and there have been times like last year when he was stranded in the VFL where his number seemed to be up before he fights back and goes around again.
“There are always revolving doors, people coming and going all the time at footy clubs, conversations being had constantly,” he says. “I’ve been in and out of the side a little bit. Last year was not too bad but the year before it was sort of inconsistent.
“I was playing some good footy and then I would just have games where I was very inconsistent. I’ve also figured out the body a bit. The body is feeling better as I have gotten older.
“I did seven hammies in two years when I was young. That’s a pain in the arse, it sucks, you just don’t trust anything, you just don’t trust your body so that was frustrating.
“The medical team here, the strength and conditioning team, we did a heap of work and I feel like it is starting to pay off.”
A change in philosophy away from continually worrying about his spot in the team has resulted in a new freedom which has seen him play 19 games this season.
“I think I just got a handle on what was important and what was important within my role and it was keeping things so simple and helping the guy next to me,” Stanley says.
“So that’s a bit of the mantra for the last year or two, it’s what can I do for the guy next to me rather than myself. What can I do to let Paddy (Dangerfield) have a good game? What can I do to let those guys do what they do? That has worked pretty well this year.”
In Saturday’s grand final Stanley will come up against an old friend, Tom Hickey, who he spent two seasons with at St Kilda before heading to Geelong.
“I love playing against Tommy, he is a great guy. We have a great relationship and there is a good bit of banter on the field which is good fun every time I play against Tommy.
“I’m really looking forward to the battle as he has played some great footy the last few years. We had a couple of years together as he came in from the Gold Coast and built a great relationship.
“We still have a bunch of mutual mates that are already flicking through the banter which is fun. He has got some tricks, he has got some stuff you have to be careful of so it will be a good battle.”
Stanley has followed teammate Tom Hawkins into the hobby farm business and has a property just outside of Geelong in Moriac.
“We run some cattle there and we’re building a house,” he says. “I live out there with the family at the moment as we’ve already renovated a cottage.
“My son (Jagger) loves it. Every day I come home from training he’s there with his work boots on and says, ‘Right Dad, let’s go do our jobs’.
“I’m very lucky to be in this position, to be at this footy club, I pinch myself every day that I get to play footy here and raise a family in this town and be a part of the community
“I feel great, I’m 31 turning 32 and I feel fantastic. I just want to go and get it (the premiership) now.”
Heartbreaking call the best Ollie has ever made
- Sam Landsberger
John Longmire and Kinnear Beatson rang Oliver Florent’s doorbell in Mentone on the Sunday before the 2016 national draft.
Sydney’s coach and list manager had marvelled at Florent’s under-18 footage, comfortably ranking the Sandringham Dragons kid inside the best 10 players in the draft.
They thought Florent had elite hands, made clever decisions under pressure and would provide a dash of much-needed outside run.
But the Florent family was grieving. Oliver’s father, Andrew, had died 12 weeks earlier after a long battle with bowel cancer.
Andrew, once ranked No. 13 in the tennis world as a doubles star, was a regular at his son’s games that season despite his illness.
“Sometimes we almost had to carry him to the ground but he’d find a seat and watch,” his former doubles partner Paul Kilderry once said.
It was widely believed no non-Victorian club would consider drafting Florent on compassionate grounds.
They did not want to break up a heartbroken family by taking Oliver away from younger brother, Jai, and their mum, Rachel.
But Longmire and Beatson wanted to ask the question and they came prepared.
They knew they could put a raft of support around Florent and backed their strong culture to make it work.
They left that luncheon with the family’s blessing to draft Florent and four nights later used their first pick, No. 11 — which they had traded up for after receiving No. 14 for Tom Mitchell — on the resilient teenager.
“I did want to stay (in Victoria) to be around my family,” Florent told the Herald Sun at the SCG on Monday.
“But the closer it got the more open I was to starting again, and the club obviously chatted to me and wondered if it was OK.
“It was a long time ago now, six years. But I caught up with ‘Horse’ (Longmire) a couple of times and I was really, really impressed with the way he operates and the Swans operate.
“I was rapt when the Swans picked me.”
The move was a big one, but it wasn't the last one. Florent has shifted around Sydney five times and is currently based in Bondi.
He looks back fondly on the fresh start.
“It was nice, a clean slate,” the 24-year-old said.
“To be chucked in the deep end moving away from home was the best thing for me, although it wasn't really the deep end because they made me feel so comfortable up here.”
There's been another fresh start for Florent, too. He kicked three goals in round 1 before his polish was trialled behind the ball in round 7.
Florent helped restrict Brisbane Lions jet Zac Bailey to one goal that day and has since kept Michael Walters to one goal from 50 minutes and Shai Bolton to one goal from 47 minutes.
He hasn’t looked back.
“The coaches liked me down back and I haven’t moved since,” Florent said.
In Saturday’s preliminary final, he kept Pat Lipinski goalless from 44 minutes.
In the moments before that preliminary final, backline coach Ben Matthews huddled his seven defenders in tight and gave them an old-fashioned rev-up as most other players approached their positions on the SCG.
“He said to stick to our guns, do what we do and be prepared for a hot-intensity game,” Florent said.
Florent’s dad was a fighter. He was given three months to live about four years before he passed away.
He was also given 12 hours to live before fighting on for one more week, which Florent spent by his side in hospital in Brighton.
“You can never relive that time with him, so I spent countless hours and said my goodbyes about 12 times,” Florent said before the draft.
“He just kept pushing and pushing. It was really sad, his whole body composition had changed and he wasn’t responsive and I couldn’t speak to him in the last three days.
“That was really tough. But I wasn’t going to go to school because you can’t ever replace that moment with your dad ever again.”
The congratulatory messages have flowed ever since Saturday‘s one-point win against Collingwood, and there’s a common theme throughout.
“I’ve been getting a lot of messages from family and extended family and they’ve constantly reminded me that dad’s up there looking down,” Florent said.
“For him not knowing I’m playing in an AFL grand final is upsetting. But it’s also really fulfilling for the rest of my family and, as they say, he would be proud.”
Thing that ‘wore down’ Jezza in super season
- Rebecca Williams
A laid back and simple man.
That’s how Geelong star forward Jeremy Cameron likes to describe himself.
When he’s away from the football field, the Cats’ spearhead loves nothing more than kicking back at his farm on the outskirts of Geelong and getting on the tools for a bit of DIY.
Cameron has spent the year renovating the property in between kicking bags of goals for the Cats and didn’t plan to down tools ahead of the grand final – at least until midweek.
“I have fully renovated the house this year and pretty much done most of it myself,” the Cats’ spearhead said.
“I have had to get people in to do electrical work and plumbing but a lot of the other stuff I have managed to do myself, which wore me down at a few stages during the year but I was lucky enough to still play well those weeks.
“I got a bit of a gauge and had to pull back a little bit but it’s all part of it.
“I’ll still do a fair bit today and tomorrow and then Wednesday we have got main training so I will probably put the cue in the rack then I reckon.”
A handyman at home and with the football, Cameron has more than comfortably settled into life – on and off the field – at Geelong.
In his second season at the club, the former Giant has taken his game and forward craft to a new level, kicking 63 goals so far this year in a dominant attacking partnership alongside his All-Australian teammate Tom Hawkins.
The lifestyle in Geelong clearly agrees with him.
It’s his simple and laid-back outlook that has allowed his game – and his partnership with Hawkins – to flourish this year.
“We are very simple people,” Cameron said.
“I am probably a bit more simple than ‘Hawk’, he is such an intelligent person, a kind person. He has been awesome for not just me, but the whole of the forward line and the club as well.
“I am very laid back and the senior players and coaching staff allow me to do that and drift around and that’s when I play my best footy, which is opposite to quite a lot of people and probably most people.
“But it works and they allow me to do that. ‘Hawk’ is right at the front of that and he has his own way as well.”
He might be a simple man off the field, but his importance to Geelong is anything but.
The key forward has stamped himself as one of the Cats’ most important and dangerous players – and will be a key in their grand final hopes.
He was the Cats’ highest vote-getter in the Brownlow Medal count with 19 – six ahead of Cameron Guthrie – and earned his third All-Australian jacket this year.
The second-favourite Cat behind Patrick Dangerfield in betting for the Norm Smith Medal, Cameron ranks among the elite forwards for goals, disposals and above average for marks this year.
But the former Giants’ first season at Geelong wasn’t as smooth as he battled injury at different stages, which restricted him to 15 games.
His debut season served as motivation for Cameron to produce his best football this year.
“Definitely for me it was huge … early in the pre-season I wanted to have my best season and that’s the way I was preparing myself for it,” Cameron said.
“To train really hard over the summer and get myself and my body in a space where I felt really confident in it was key and then from there I could roll into games and play most of the year. I have been really happy with that.
“I look forward to giving it absolutely everything I have got in this final game and then we can put the feet up after that.”
Despite the scores on the board, his game hasn’t just been about kicking big hauls.
It’s how he can have an influence on the game in other ways when the goals dry up.
“I have found different ways to stay involved in games. I think for a large part of my career I kicked three, four, five or bust and not much else,” Cameron said.
“I’d like to think in the games that I haven’t had a score impact I’ve still helped up the field or been able to get my hands on the footy and set up defensively and stay involved because we know it’s very challenging to hit the scoreboard and kick multiple goals each and every week, but what can I do to help the team in those games?
“I think that is something I have really worked on.”
Cameron’s forward partner-in-crime Hawkins said the 29-year-old’s impact at the Cats this year had been huge.
“(He’s a) brilliant player. Incredible talent. Great person,” Hawkins said.
“That was all on show here (for open training) today. He arguably got one of the biggest roars, the people of Geelong love him.
“He is just such a likeable person and an incredible player.
“He has just brought so much to the group, so much energy, he has been wonderful for us.
“He has arguably the best season, and I’m not saying this because I’m a teammate of his, but he has had arguably the best season of any player in the competition.
“He has been brilliant, he has been so good for us and just adds a different dimension, just the way he plays, it’s been so good to play with him.”
Cameron experienced the highs and lows of grand final week in 2019 at Greater Western Sydney and is learning from those lessons this week.
“It’s different because there are a lot of different players, a whole different team, different community, different everything,” Cameron said.
“It is still the same build-up. I probably learnt a few things from last time.
“It is a long week, it’s stretched out a fair bit, there are a lot of different events we have to go to and at the same time still train the same way we do each and every week.
“I’ll make sure I’m relaxed like I always am and prepare well.
“As a group, we will just build slowly over the week and hit our straps on Saturday.”
And the man cave he’s been working on as part of the farm renovations might just be ready in time for some post-grand final celebrations if the Cats make good on their flag favouritism.
“It will be, at least midway through the next week anyway,” Cameron said.
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Originally published as AFL Grand Final 2022: The stories behind the players at Geelong and Sydney
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