The Joel Selwood story: Inside the 2006 draft and the sliding doors moment that changed Geelong forever

It is the moment that changed Geelong forever. But it almost didn’t happen. These are the rule changes that helped the Cats land a superstar – and the clubs who were ready to pounce.

A sliding doors moment could come for a club that lands Joel Selwood.

If Selwood remains in football – and that's still an ‘if’, but seems more likely than at the start of the year – what would, say, St Kilda pay to have the retired champion at its football club?

St Kilda has played 2457 matches for 22 finals wins and one premiership in 124 years. Selwood has played 355 matches for 22 finals wins and four premierships in 16 years.

The appeal would be similarly strong for several clubs. What about North Melbourne? Or Gold Coast? Or Essendon? Or even the Western Bulldogs?

Selwood, 34, is the complete package. Caring person, champion player and respected leader with a standing in the game that is reserved for legends.

“It'd be wonderful if he stayed at Geelong, because he belongs there in a sense,” veteran football boss Neil Balme, who was at the Cats when Selwood was drafted, told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“But if he wants to work in footy there‘s no doubt he’s got all the qualities. He’s an intelligent young man, he’s got a wonderful ability to understand people and to help them be as good as they can be.

“So wherever he went he would certainly be good value, providing he wants to do that. I‘ve got no doubt he’d be value to any sporting program, particularly a footy program, that he went to.”

Joel Selwood after the 2022 grand final win. Picture: Michael Klein

With his footy boots off, Balme said Selwood could slot in just about anywhere.

“Running footy departments and the administration is totally separate from the playing side of it. It‘s not an extension of playing, it’s a whole new role and a new start,” he said.

“How much is he worth? Who would know, but certainly there's a bit of reality about how much you get paid when you work in admin compared to playing, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind that.

“I think he's got some wonderful qualities. I’d be surprised if he’s not reasonably suited to most of the things from wellbeing to assistant coaching to even the admin side, he’d grow into that if he wanted to.

“I haven't had much to do with him lately, but he understands his limitations and is always prepared to work hard at things.

“If he's not quite good enough at something he’ll certainly have a good at it, I can tell you.”

Geelong‘s sliding doors moment came in 2006 when the Cats landed Selwood at pick No.7. It was a selection that changed the club’s course of history.

But one draft rule needed to change for that happen, and one outdated draft rule needed to remain unchanged for that to happen.

The first was the abolishment of priority draft picks allocated before the first round for clubs who had finished with less than 20.5 premiership points (five wins).

That had allowed Hawthorn to secure Jarryd Roughead at No.2 (priority selection) and Lance Franklin at No.5 in 2004, and Collingwood to secure Dale Thomas at No.2 (priority selection) and Scott Pendlebury at No.5 in 2005.

The Magpies were heavily overcompensated after playing in the 2002 and 2003 grand finals and they bounced straight back to play in eight consecutive finals series after that bonanza.

Joel Selwood during a medical screen at 2006 AFL Draft Camp at the AIS.

The rule was rewritten for Selwood‘s draft the following year.

If it hadn't been then Carlton would’ve had picks No.1 and 3 and Essendon would’ve had picks No.2 and 4 in 2006.

The Bombers loved Scott Gumbleton that year and had Scott Lucas and Matthew Lloyd approaching their 30s.

Gumbleton was 200cm, ran a 16 beep test and marked the ball at the highest point.

They thought he had everything Nick Riewoldt had at the same age and so they used No.2 on Gumbleton.

But what if they had a priority pick as well?

“I can assure you that – and ‘Sheeds’ (Kevin Sheedy) will back this up – we would’ve taken Joel Selwood as well,” list boss Adrian Dodoro has said.

Instead, the Blues and Bombers got priority picks at the end of the first round – not before it – and took Shaun Hampson (No.17) and Leroy Jetta (No.18) respectively.

The rule that needed to remain in place was the ancient father-son bidding system, which allowed clubs to take sons of guns with a third-round selection regardless of their ranking in the talent order.

The Cats had Tom Hawkins in Selwood's draft class and took ‘Jumping Jack’ Hawkins’ son at pick 41.

Hawkins, an under-18 All-Australian who won the Larke Medal as the national carnival‘s best player, had booted six goals against South Australia to foreshadow his greatness.

He was compared to Jonathan Brown and declared the best footballer Vic Metro coach David Dickson had seen since Chris Judd.

Hawkins was one of the best players in the 2006 draft yet the Cats got him far later.

In 2007, the father-son rules were changed because of concerns so many clubs were getting gifted top-10 talents cheaply.

In 2008, the Western Bulldogs were forced to use their first-round pick on father-son Ayce Cordy because a club below them had bidded on him while Darcy Moore (No.9) and Luke McDonald (No.8) went in the top 10 as father-sons under that system.

Selwood was taken at pick 6 from the Bendigo Pioneers in 2006.

Tom Hawkins landed at the Cats much later, due to the old father-son rule.

In 2015, the complex live bidding system was introduced and Brisbane Lions will probably have to pay for the No.1 pick to select father-son star Will Ashcroft next month.

In short, under either of those fixes it's almost impossible to see how the Cats would’ve taken Selwood and Hawkins together in 2006.

That was a topic of conversation among some club officials in the hours after the grand final.

The story of Selwood slipping past six clubs because of his suspect knees is well-known.

Hawthorn had showed a lot of interest in Selwood and invited his parents, Bryce and Maree, out for drinks at Bendigo’s All Seasons Hotel.

First-year Hawk Xavier Ellis took Selwood to Glenferrie for a secret meeting in 2006, but club medicos infamously ruled a line through Selwood and they instead took Mitch Thorp with the pick before Geelong‘s.

But if the Cats had been forced to match a bid for Hawkins, how far would Selwood have slipped?

The answer ... not far at all.

“I said to (new coach) Ross Lyon going in to the draft, ‘Look, if Selwood’s there at pick No.9 we should pick him’,” the great John Beveridge, former St Kilda recruiter, recalled this week.

But with Selwood gone the Saints took David Armitage at No.9, who Beveridge remembered as “strong, hard and tough and a good servant”.

Selwood with brother Adam, mum Maree, brother Troy, father Bryce and brother Scott after the draft.

Before Saints fans start fantasising too much about what Lenny Hayes, Nick Riewoldt and Joel Selwood would've looked like under Lyon, it is worth remembering what Collingwood told Selwood’s parents after the draft.

“I remember Derek Hine (Collingwood recruiting manager) saying to me that Joel was their Christmas present waiting to be opened and then Geelong came in and snatched it from him,” Maree Selwood told the Bendigo Advertiser in 2020.

The Magpies had picks No.8 and 10 that year, having acquired Richmond‘s No.8 pick in a three-way trade that saw the Tigers slide back to No.13 and get Graham Polak.

The Tigers always had eyes for Jack Riewoldt‘s footy smarts and got him at No.13.

Recruiter Francis Jackson was sold on Riewoldt the day he kicked four goals for Clarence in a grand final against a big, strong, tattooed full-back who captained Glenorchy.

The Magpies got the No.8 pick and Paul Medhurst for sending Chris Tarrant to Fremantle, only for Tarrant to return to Collingwood after four seasons as a Docker.

If the Cats had been forced to use their early pick on Hawkins it could've been out: Chris Tarrant, In: Joel Selwood and Paul Medhurst.

Instead, it was Ben Reid and Medhurst, with Nathan Brown taken at No.10.

Mick Malthouse at the 2006 draft camp – and the Magpies had Selwood in mind.

Premiership coach Mick Malthouse was loathe to buy into the hypotheticals this week.

But the mind wanders. What would've happened in the 2007 preliminary final epic between Collingwood and Geelong, which the Cats won by five points, if Selwood was in opposition colours?

Who would‘ve replaced Nick Maxwell as captain when he handed it over after 2013 ... Selwood or Scott Pendlebury?

There are countless ‘what ifs?’ in that sliding doors moment and it’s best not to sink too deep.

But it was a fascinating draft crop to look back on, perhaps the biggest mixed bag of all time.

There were champions speckled throughout, like Richmond‘s Shane Edwards at No.26 and Port Adelaide’s Robbie Gray at No.55, and plenty of busts in between.

Thorp played two games and Gumbleton played 35 games as injuries wrecked their careers.

The top 25 also included Adelaide‘s James Sellar (44 games), Sydney’s Daniel O’Keefe (0), Essendon’s Tom Hislop (27) and North Melbourne’s Gavin Urquhart (41).

But Selwood‘s best mate from Bendigo Pioneers, Jarryn Geary, had to wait for 136 players to get their chance before the Saints closed the rookie draft by taking him and recycled Lion Jayden Attard.

Geary played 207 games and captained the club. That rookie draft also unearthed Sam Jacobs, Sharrod Wellingham, Michael Jamison, Matthew Suckling, Jarrod Harbrow and Jake King.

Shaun Grigg was picked by Carlton at No.19 in the national draft before starring in the 2017 premiership for Richmond and helping Geelong, and Selwood, win this year‘s flag as an assistant coach.

Three-time premiership Tiger Bachar Houli also got his start at another club that year when he was picked by Essendon at No.42.

Port Adelaide followed up the Gray get with 280-game swingman Justin Westhoff at No.71.

North Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein was there at No.37 and will still be out there next season.

Selwood in action during the grand final of his debut season in 2007.

And hugging coach Chris Scott after announcing his retirement this year.Picture: Jason Edwards

But Selwood was always the story.

He played three games in 2006 due to those ‘dodgy’ knees as several clubs, like the Hawks, couldn’t see him kicking on for a long career.

AFL talent boss Kevin Sheehan thought Selwood‘s 2005 form – he was an under-All-Australian who captained the Australian under-17 team against Ireland – would’ve had him in the mix to go No.1 that year, alongside Marc Murphy, if he was eligible.

The Cats wanted Selwood or Boak in 2006 but if both were gone by No.7 they would‘ve chosen between Reid and Riewoldt.

An assistant coach from the Cats at that time remembered a meeting after Selwood‘s first week at training where they sat back amazed at what this teenager was doing.

When Cats recruiter Stephen Wells called out: “Player 111457, Joel Selwood, Bendigo Pioneers” his club was changed forever.

Coach Chris Scott acknowledged the “sliding doors moments” on Wednesday night at the club‘s best-and-fairest.

The Cats were delivered the Selwood draft pick after crashing out of the finals in 2006 and launching a review that threatened coach Mark Thompson‘s job.

“Imagine if 2006 didn't happen and Geelong didn’t get pick No.7 in the draft?” Scott said.

“Imagine if Joel didn't have a sore knee in the lead-up to the draft and slipped from his rightful spot at No.1 down to No.7?”

The planets aligned perfectly for Geelong, and Selwood the premiership captain whose popularity is peaking has now retired on top of the world.

Originally published as The Joel Selwood story: Inside the 2006 draft and the sliding doors moment that changed Geelong forever