SELWOOD EYES RETURN FOR CATS
A SIMPLE bump from his brother in a training drill was all it took to trigger the back injury that has halted Geelong midfielder Scott Selwood.
Selwood was bending down to pick up a ground ball on May 11 when he copped a nudge in a contest with his brother Joel, sending his back into a spasm.
He missed the Round 8 match against Collingwood two days later, had another spasm the following week, was put in the rehab group and has not played since with a combination of nerve and disc issues.
But the 28-year-old completed a training session unhindered yesterday and believes he has turned the corner, eyeing off a return within the next fortnight.
If training goes to plan next week, he even remains an out- side chance to play next weekend.
“I don’t want to put anyone under pressure,” Selwood said yesterday. “I’m feeling strong. I feel if I complete a good session next week, I hope to put my hand up.
“It really depends on how much training I get through in the next week or two. But it’s closer than what I first thought it may have been a week or two ago.”
Selwood has played only four matches in a stop-start season because of ankle, concussion and now back issues.
“You do get a little bit frustrated, from the point of view that the club’s put so much faith in me and all you want to do is reward them and repay them back,” he said.
“So it’s frustrating from that point of view, but I have to keep respecting my body and listening to my body, otherwise I’ll spend more time on the sidelines. All I want to do is play and reward the faith of the people here. I’m sure that will come.”
Selwood revealed he was tight in the back before the training mishap and admitted the issue was something he previously had to manage.
“It was something as simple as picking up a ground ball and a bit of contact as I went to pick up the ground ball,” he said.
Selwood was on hand yesterday as the Cats celebrated the fifth birthday — and 90,000th visitor — of the Deakin Cats Community Centre in the Players’ Stand at GMHBA Stadium. The centre is available free of charge to organisations, schools and groups to run programs that encourage healthy and active lifestyles.
“We are proud of our 10 flagship community programs and the role that the Deakin Cats Community Centre plays as the hub of our community engagement,” Geelong’s community development general manager Sarah Albon said.
“The community centre is available to a wide range of users and we are proud that over 90,000 people have util- ised it since it opened five years ago. We are constantly looking for ways to improve the centre to ensure it stays as an optimum facility for all that use it.”