SCOOTER LICENCE
Injury-free Selwood‘s clear run to attack R1
GEELONG midfielder Scott Selwood is edging closer to completing his first full preseason at the Cats, fuelling hopes he can play a key role in the club’s premiership push. Selwood, previously hampered by ankle and back issues, has not played a Round 1 game in his three seasons at the Cats. But the 28year-old is poised to hit the ground running this season after being one of the top performers on the training track. The man nicknamed ‘Scooter’ will also feature prominently in Geelong’s engine room in 2019, having spent part of last season playing as a defensive forward.
GEELONG captain Joel Selwood believes his team will benefit enormously from the presence of his brother, Scott, in the early rounds of this year as the former Eagle edges closer to completing his first full pre-season since crossing to the club at the end of 2015.
Scott Selwood has not played a Round 1 game in his three seasons at the Cats, with the Round 3 clash against West Coast last season his earliest appearance in the blue and white hoops.
But the 28-year-old has been flying on the training track this summer, and Joel said the youngest Selwood was set for a big season.
“He makes us not nice in many ways, the way that he tackles and attacks the ball,” the Geelong skipper said.
“His professionalism this pre-season, it was about keeping going and running rather than stopping and letting his body recover from an operation or something like that.
“There was a lot of thought put in around how to actually attack it and he has had a really strong three weeks out there now.
“He is one of those players that the pre-season has gone for a long period so we need to make sure his lead-up to games is what it needs to be, but he is ready.
“We have a lot of those guys in that situation and they help us big time and make us better.”
A combination of ankle, concussion and back issues hindered Selwood last year, causing him to miss a large chunk of games.
He spent parts of the latter stage of the season playing as a defensive forward to great effect, but his older brother said he expected the man nicknamed ‘Scooter’ to feature prominently in Geelong’s engine room this year.
“He is a two-way runner and has a big work ethic,” Selwood said. “We were probably trying to fill holes a little bit late last year to have more experience around different parts of the ground but he is a midfielder.
“You look at guys we play early in the season like (Steele Sidebottom and (Andrew) Gaff out on a wing and there might be a job that he has to do in quietening those blokes down. He is not just a tagger but he can do that job where we send him out and he stops them getting the ball.”