Sad end for two club legends, says Selwood
AN EMOTIONAL Joel Selwood paid tribute to retiring veteran defenders Andrew Mackie and Tom Lonergan last night, after Geelong’s disappointing 61-point loss to Adelaide.
Mackie’s parents were in the room as he received a loud applause from players’ family and friends, who had travelled to Adelaide to watch what turned out to be the pair’s final AFL game.
The Geelong captain fought back tears when describing the legacy the duo had left throughout their distinguished careers, and admitted they would be greatly missed by players and coaches alike.
“They are a helluva pair and it’s going to be sad not having them around,” Selwood said.
“Being next to Domsy’s locker for a long time, then Mack is just a great person.
“They are two individuals who set the standard for this club for a long time, and not just on the field but off it as well. They set the right tone and behaved really well.
“They’re going to be missed in many ways. They’re really good people.”
Selwood was his team’s best player on a tough night, finishing with 34 disposals, 10 tackles and seven clearances.
The inspirational Cats skipper said it was hard not to see the season as a missed opportunity.
“You always do when you get to this situation, but they are the hardest games to win for a reason. It’s hard to analyse right now,” he said.
“It was a tough loss. We didn’t come over here to put out that result and it’s just really disappointing.
“The second term we actually had a few things on our terms, but they were still putting a little bit of scoreboard pressure on.
“But it’s just disappointing we got jumped at the start and let it get out to that.”
The Cats hope Mackie will remain at the club in an offfield role.
GEELONG coach Chris Scott says “it’s not the time” to grade his team’s season following its 61-point prelimi- nary final loss to Adelaide.
“I don’t really feel like it’s the time to make those assessments because we are all really emotional at the moment,” Scott said.
“I’m happy to say there is no one more disappointed than our players and our coaching staff and Geelong people internally.
“I know that everyone that supports us externally will be bitterly disappointed as well, but our job is to not let the emotion impact our decision making negatively. We will look forward really quickly. We will do the requisite work in review and do everything we can to improve.
“I hope that no one associated with Geelong falls into the trap of thinking that we were close again and we just have to improve a little bit to go the next step. The cold hard reality is we have to go back to the start again.”