Joel Selwood to mark 350-game milestone when Geelong takes on Western Bulldogs
Celebrities and superfans have praised superstar Cat Joel Selwood ahead of his milestone 350th game for the club. WATCH THE VIDEO
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This week, we’re celebrating Joel Selwood bringing up his 350th game when the Ctas take on the Western Bulldogs. The 34-year-old is a triple premiership player, six-time All Australian and has won the Carji Greeves medal for the Cats’ best-and-fairest on three occasions.
Geelong celebs pay tribute to Selwood
Geelong celebrities have paid tribute to the “courageous” Joel Selwood ahead of his 350th game for the Cats.
Selwood, who has captained the side since 2012, will mark his career milestone when the Cats take on the Western Bulldogs at GMHBA stadium on Saturday.
The 34-year-old posted a picture on social media this week with a pair of embossed gold 350 boots to mark the milestone.
Former Cat Billy Brownless called Selwood a “bloody star” in a tribute video to mark the milestone.
“The boy from Bendigo, who would've thought. Have the Cats found some gold there,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Corio MP Richard Marles said Selwood’s 350th game would be an “unbelievable” achievement.
“Congratulations Joel, so thrilled for you, our leader, our captain. You are an inspiration. Go Cats!”
Television personality Catriona Rowntree, who is currently at the North Pole, said Selwood was the Cats’ “north star”.
“Our guiding light, with a cement head. Thank you for being such a wonderful role model. We salute you,” she said.
Rob Costa lauded the standards Selwood had set.
“Congratulations, Joel on this phenomenal milestone. Apart from your wonderful football skills, which have delighted Cats fans for eighteen years now, the standards you have set in character and leadership have proven an inspiration to both young and old alike.
“The credit you have brough to “Brand Geelong” goes far beyond Kardinia Park.
“As a key ambassador for the Geelong community, you have given us all plenty of reason to be proud of our town.
“On a personal level, the Costa Family is privileged to be able to call Joel our friend.
“Indeed, the whole community values and appreciates your unreserved commitment. When called upon, you are always there to offer your all. From the bottom of my heart, Thank you!”
Former Cat Cam Mooney said Selwood was a “genuine superstar of the football club and a genuine superstar of the AFL”.
Mooney, who played with Selwood in two premierships, said he could not be “prouder of the fact that (he) got to play alongside” Selwood.
Also feeling the love from Cats superfans, Melbourne musician Clive Young penned Selwood a special tribute
‘Hunger and desire’: Why Joel was always bound for greatness
Before he was even on the Geelong list, Joel Selwood’s future teammates wanted him in the Cats AFL side.
Sent down to Kardinia Park in 2006 as an AIS Academy player, Selwood trained with Geelong for a couple of weeks in his draft year.
And the kid from Bendigo wowed them all.
“I remember watching him thinking ‘if he was available, he would be playing this week’,” Steve Johnson recalled.
Ling led a few senior players into Cats recruiting guru Stephen Wells’ office to ask what their chances were of drafting Selwood.
Wells rebuffed Ling’s cohort, thinking the Cats were on the way to a finals run and Selwood would be out of reach.
Turns out, wobbly knees pushed the champion down the draft order and Geelong slumped to 10th spot on the ladder, enough to grab the future club legend, who this week will become the first Cat to play 350 games.
“When he as at training we thought ‘OK has this kid been there for six years and played 50 games?,” Ling said.
“He was there with genuine purpose, some kids are there wide-eyed and just happy to be there, while some others walk around like they are the best in the world. Joel was there and it was just a step on his journey because he was going to train well and soak up everything to become a great AFL player.”
From the very start Selwood had talent and desire.
Maree Selwood dropped her prep-aged son Joel off to a grade 1-level group on his first day of Auskick and went off to run an.
On her return to Auskick, Maree was told he had been moved up to grade 2, only to walk over to that group and be told again he had been bumped up, this time to grade 3.
An adversary at the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne before becoming his teammate at Geelong, Shaun Higgins roomed with Selwood at an under-16 carnival and was impressed by the prodigiously talented kid from Bendigo.
“He always had that special quality as a player and as a person, even as early as the junior days,” Higgins recalled.
“Not to say that I predicted the 350 games but you always knew it was going to be a special career with a touch of luck.
“(Joel) always displayed leadership qualities and the moment he stepped into Geelong you heard guys said the same.”
By chance, Higgins played for the Bulldogs against the Cats in round 1, 2007, Selwood’s first game.
Brad Johnson was the star that day, booting eight goals as Selwood had eight touches off a forward flank.
“It is funny how that works out that that would be the start of 350 games, which is an unbelievable achievement,” Higgins said.
“I don’t think you can praise him enough for what he has been able to do. Just to see that competitive side, it is literally there every waking minute and the way he goes about it, how he wants to drive the whole team and just be as good as he can and make people as good as they can be.
“That is one thing that has stood out is that hunger and drive, it’s been there for 16 years and even now it is brighter than ever.”
For round 2, 2007 Geelong brought in two other youngsters to face Carlton – Tom Hawkins and Travis Varcoe.
It would be the first game shared by Hawkins and Selwood, who will reach 300 as a partnership on Saturday night against the Western Bulldogs.
Varcoe will be there in Bulldogs colours as a development coach, proud of his former teammate.
“When you think back to the way he entered Geelong at that time, he put his head down and worked hard,” Varcoe said.
“That was a pretty special group and you sort of give people a bit of grace being so young but I don’t think he ever wanted that. He wanted to hold his own and he has ever since.”
By the end of 2007, Selwood would have a premiership medal and Rising Star award to his name.
Geelong thrashed Port Adelaide in the grand final that year and Power star Chad Cornes knew there was something special about his opponent even then.
“He was just one of those players who came in and obviously had a very talented, experienced and tough team around him but he was a guy even in his first year that looked like he had been playing for four or five years,” Cornes said.
“He is one of the toughest, most courageous, team players I have ever played against or witnessed.”
Well on the way to a stunning career, Selwood’s early days showed that hunger and desire that carried him to the edge of 350 games.
‘You try and be like him’: Selwood inspires young Cats
The man who currently does the best impression of Joel Selwood in a Geelong uniform is still in awe of his skipper.
Thrust into the midfield over the past two months, Tom Atkins’ desperation to win every contest, big tackles that always seem to stick and calm nature has echoed Selwood at his pomp of about a decade ago.
It’s no surprise the former St Joseph’s hard-nut took a lot of his game from watching Selwood at his best, emulating the Geelong champion as he burrowed to the bottom of packs at Drew Reserve in the GFL.
And even though he has been on the Cats AFL list for four years now, Atkins still pinches himself when walking to the middle alongside Selwood.
“It is pretty surreal really that I play with him now and he is my captain,” Atkins said.
“Obviously you just try and be as much as you can like him and a lot of my game is modelled after how he plays.”
It’s not just the on-field fearlessness and skill that Geelong players have tried to emulate from watching Selwood in the office.
Through 349 games, few players have had as strong an influence over their club and teammates than Selwood, who is constantly teaching and leading by example.
“He is amazing really,” Atkins said.
“His captaincy extends off the field, he always knows what’s going on around the club and knows people’s named. His reach is so much further than the 23 guys who are playing on the weekend.”
Young midfield jet Max Holmes has been on the end of some teachings from Selwood, as he continues to be groomed to take up a lead role in the onball brigade in years to come.
Despite being rested ahead of Geelong’s thumping win over North Melbourne in round 16, Selwood was one of the happiest people in the rooms at GMHBA Stadium post-match after giving Holmes some pointers pre-game that helped the teen.
“He is just someone you can really on and is really willing to help me,” Holmes said.
“I remember a few weeks back he was being managed and he wasn’t playing the day before a game so he gave me all these tips and I used a couple of them in the game so he messaged me after saying he loved this and that.
“he is really great at teaching us young boys and we will play some little handballs games out (at training) and he is always joining in.”
Young forward Brad Close is like many players who have come to the Cats over the past 15 years with an idea of Selwood’s leadership before gaining anew appreciation once he sees the skipper day in and day out.
“He gives the same amount of time to the supporters, coaches, players and officials,” Close said.
“The person he is, he is an all-round clubman who puts his footy club first and then worries about himself second. It’s very reassuring to run out knowing Joel has your back each week and you can see the way he puts his body on the line.
“He just symbolises a great club person and the Geelong footy club.”
Selwood ‘the greatest Cats player ever’: Hawkins
Geelong star forward Tom Hawkins says he has run out of superlatives for one of his “best friends” Joel Selwood, declaring the captain the “greatest Cats player to ever play.”
Hawkins is set to play alongside his skipper for the 300th time in their career against the Bulldogs at GMHBA Stadium in round 20, in the same game Selwood notches his 350th match.
It is a feat only achieved two other times with Adelaide’s Andrew McLeod and Tyson Edwards playing 307 games together, and Swans Adam Goodes and Jude Bolton playing 301 matches together.
Hawkins said he did not expect to play 300 games alongside the number 7 pick from his own draft class in 2006.
“We knew a little bit about each other before we got drafted, I vividly remember where I was when Geelong called out his name and I thought ‘how good is this’,” he said.
“I’d heard he’s an excellent player but from what I remember at the time he was a great person and I was really excited to play a year or two with him, I didn’t think it’d eventuate to 300 games together as teammates.
“It’s nice to be able to reflect and appreciate Joel Selwood, the player and impact he’s had for the club, I like it personally because he’s one of my best friends.
“I think milestones are a really enjoyable part of football, that might be your first game, your 100th, 200th or 350th.
“They’re special times for the individual to be celebrated, and particularly this one being the only Cat to have ever played 350 games.
“Maybe I’m a bit biased but I think he’s one of the greatest, if not the greatest Cats player to ever play.”
Selwood has been rested at times this season, playing 15 games and averaging 22.3 disposals, 3.1 marks, 4.5 tackles and 0.7 goals per game.
Hawkins said the pair shared a special connection in the moments before running out each week that had developed from years of repetition.
“Because we’ve both run out together so much, when you’re not there for the odd time that injury or suspension that hasn’t allowed us to, it’s a funny feeling,” he said.
“I wouldn’t even say it’s a routine or anything like that, or a superstition, but we always seem to find each other just before we run out onto the ground, wherever that may be.
“Usually it’s between when he has his last address inside and before we walk out the doors we find a way to see each other and try to inspire each other to perform at a higher level to help the group.
“It’s weird not playing with him, but thankfully we haven’t had to do that too much, we’ve been pretty lucky.”
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