OUTSIDER IN THE MIDDLE OF IT
IT has been a step out of the engine room for the greater good.
As much as we have lauded the success of Gary Ablett’s switch into attack, Joel Selwood’s move to a wing has been another significant gear change for Geelong.
One of the toughest ballwinners of the past decade, Selwood has sacrificed part of his game, in a way, to let the Cats’ next generation of ballwinners flourish.
It might have been tempting for the champion midfielder to want to do this year what he has always done in the clinches.
But the move to more of an outside midfield role has reinvigorated the new-look midfield, helped second-year ball magnet Tim Kelly blossom into one of the game’s best, and lifted the Cats two games clear on top of the ladder.
Selwood, 31, is relying on his footy smarts, reading of the play and endurance, rather than his brilliant stoppage work in close and crash-andbash style, to win the ball.
Hawthorn great Ben Dixon said the move had been a winning move and, in part, a changing of the guard for Geelong.
“He (Selwood) is probably thinking how good is this? I don’t have to worry about getting my 30 (possessions every week),” Dixon said on the Don’t Argue podcast.
“Those blokes who have worn the overalls for so long, and feed it out to those in those suits, well now he (Selwood) has put the suit on for a few weeks, and let some other bloke put the overalls on.”
He has always had a natural nose for the Sherrin, but now he is using it to pounce on ground balls and link up in slightly more space.
It is still demanding physically, just in a different way.
Wingmen are traditionally explosive athletes who zip past on the outside, and, at 31, speed is not the veteran’s strong suit.
After missing rounds seven and eight with some soreness, Selwood said: “I needed the couple of weeks (off), to be honest . . . but I feel better for it.”
What the change has done is underline his leadership and trust in his teammates to get the job done without him barrelling away in the clinches for a 13th season.
Maybe, it can even extend the career of a man who has ploughed head-first into the contest for the bulk of his 282game career.
For coach Chris Scott, it must be a dream result, that the Cats are not reliant on the champion midfielder to haul his team over the line every week.
AFL champion Wayne Carey applauded Selwood’s seflessness.
“The hard thing is, when you have been a consistent footballer like he has been, and so tough, then it’s hard to get your head around your own role changing, and you are not going to be as good,” Carey said.
That said, Selwood still saved the club in the third term against Sydney when Scott swung him and Patrick Dangerfield into the guts to take command of the clearances.
Selwood is ninth in the Cats’ AFL Coaches Association votes with seven in the Easter Monday clash against Hawthorn, the only game he has polled in.
And while it has already been pointed out his average possessions have dropped from 27 to 21 this year, numbers do not tell his full story this season.
“He’s had a sore knee, in the twilight of his career and he’ll probably keep playing for a few more years,” Dixon said.
“(But there’s) no cause for concern whatsoever because they’re winning games of footy.”