Inside the laughs and tears of Joel Selwood’s farewell press conference

A hospitality worker had no idea that she had the AFL premiership skipper in her back seat on Saturday night.

In a crowded room at GMHBA Stadium, for Joel Selwood it was all about the front row.

The Captain’s Room at the top of the Premiership Stand was filled with chairs for Selwood’s final act as a Geelong player on Wednesday, as he bowed out in an emotional retirement press conference.

Brit Selwood holds back tears as Maree Selwood looks on proudly.

On one side of the two rows of seats was Selwood’s family.

His parents Bryce and Maree sat proudly, with Joel’s brothers Scott, Troy and Adam just behind them.

On the other side was Selwood’s footy family.

Tom Hawkins sat upright, holding himself together, alongside Mitch Duncan and Patrick Dangerfield.

Hawkins and Selwood both came to Geelong as country kids drafted in 2006.

They lived together in their first year at the club and have remained inseparable ever since, having won more VFL/AFL games as teammates than any other pairing ever.

Selwood was late coming upstairs to face the cameras, having held a meeting with his teammates beforehand, where he told his boys how much he would miss them.

Tom Hawkins has a laugh.

“I just feel so lucky. I have just spoken to the boys down in the rooms and I just saw people I want to go to work with and I’m wondering what I am going to do next year and I am not going to be with people like that,” he said.

“Footy clubs are special and I am in a really special one.

“I just told them that they are so lucky to be here and I have enjoyed their company.

“I will turn into their biggest fan, I asked a couple of them if they could find me some tickets because I have never had to do that before.”

Only Joel Selwood could turn his retirement speech into a sermon on everyone else.

A man of steel throughout his 355 games, he threatened to break into tears immediately when he sat down, facing a room full of his teammates, coaches and off-field staff.

The emotion was palpable in the Captain’s Room but it wasn’t all sadness.

Players were keeling over as Selwood recalled how his Saturday night ended with the premiership skipper begging for a lift home at a Barwon Heads servo.

Selwood had left his car key in his locker and asked long-time teammate and now Cats medical boss Harry Taylor to retrieve it.

Taylor left the key in his pocket and didn’t hand it over and when Selwood got to the service station he couldn’t start his car again.

Drained from a long day working at a local pub, ‘Emily’ agreed to drop the man who millions of people across Australia had shed tears over that afternoon at the MCG home.

“I asked Emily if she could drop me home, I jumped in the car and asked how her day was,” Selwood said.

“She wasn’t in the best of moods, it had been a big day at the Barwon Heads pub

“She didn’t pick up on who I was and asked how my day was and I said it was actually pretty good.

“Then she asked for my name and she started swearing at herself.”

Emily ended the night with a photo of the skipper and the premiership cup, a story she will never forget.

One moment Cats coach Chris Scott will never forget came in the final quarter at the MCG during that sun-soaked grand final.

Sitting on the bench, Selwood picked up the phone to the coaches box and wanted to share the moment with Scott.

“I think it was about halfway through the last quarter when he went back on, Joel picked up the phone on the bench … and it just struck me that it should have been his moment but he wanted to share it with me,” Scott recalled.

Forever willing and polite, Selwood finished the press conference by shaking hands with the media scrum, addressing them by name and with a smile.

The Selwood clan. Picture: Jason Edwards

He put himself through the ringer once again, putting on his smile as he has always done to pose up for photos with his wife, his coach and his family.

Football is forever moving on, with the focus of the game now already gone from the premiership and on to trade week.

But for a few moments at GMHBA Stadium, everybody wanted to stay, because once Selwood left the room, his playing career was really over.

Joel hugs Chris Scott within sight of the premiership cup. Picture: Jason Edwards

Potential captain-to-be Tom Stewart shared some hugs with the Selwood clan, with Bryce urging him to carry on Joel’s way.

Although there were four premiership cups flanking him as he said farewell, it was the those right in front of Selwood that he will miss most.

“It’s the people you play with, it’s the front row,” he said.

Originally published as Inside the laughs and tears of Joel Selwood’s farewell press conference