Levi Greenwood keeps Joel Selwood on tight leash

AFTER Joel Selwood almost single-handedly engineered a Geelong win against St Kilda last week, there was no way Collingwood was going to allow the Cats skipper a repeat performance.

IT wasn’t a hard tag in the classical sense, all that blocking and scragging at every stoppage, arm bars around the ground, teammates helping out with a nudge here or there.

But it was close, and it worked.

A week after Joel Selwood almost single-handedly engineered a Geelong win against St Kilda, the Cats skipper was not going to be given a chance to go again.

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So Levi Greenwood found his way to Selwood’s side as often as he could at the MCG, when the Collingwood midfielder wasn’t chancing his arm with a skate towards the football.

At stoppages they were shoulder to shoulder, but such was the limited influence Selwood had on the game early, most of the time the pair were jogging within a couple of metres of each other, somewhere the ball wasn’t.

Greenwood wasn’t quite taking Selwood out of the game, the Cats skipper was just not really in it.

Selwood had 43 possessions last week against the Saints, including 31 in the second half.

Levi Greenwood gets under Joel Selwood’s skin. Picture: Michael Klein

But by the main break he had just nine disposals, no marks, no clearances, and not a single inside-50.

Only once in the opening two terms did Selwood growl at his shadow, but it was enough to encourage Greenwood that his efforts were paying off.

And in the second half, Greenwood, sensing a Selwood-led Cats revival could be on the cards, upped the ante, and the niggling.

He got closer at every contest, started scragging the Geelong skipper that little bit more, pushed Selwood’s buttons a little bit harder and asked more questions as the game got away from the Cats.

Selwood started hanging back after the centre bounces, away from the heat, watching as the Pies poured on six third-quarter goals to take the game beyond yet another rescue effort.

It’s rare for Selwood not to answer back, at least a little — a pivotal clearance or three, a contested mark, a hardball get, something to inspire his team.

But worn down by a long day of trying to escape his shadow, and with not much help coming from any of his teammates either, Selwood just couldn’t muster a moment of inspiration.

And when Greenwood’s mate Taylor Adams knocked him to the ground with a couple of minutes to go, miles off the ball, Selwood knew it just wasn’t his day.

Selwood won the possession battle, but it was only 17 to Greenwood’s 16.

Not great numbers, on not a great day for the Cats.

Originally published as Levi Greenwood keeps Joel Selwood on tight leash