Leading the Geelong Cats into a do-or-die semi-final is a fitting way for ‘Captain Courageous’ Joel Selwood to break the club’s all-time games record.
Selwood is set to break former teammate and current Cats forward coach Corey Enright’s games record on Friday night against GWS Giants after last week’s qualifying final loss.
“We’ve been in this situation before where we’re going to have to grind it out a little bit,” the 33-year-old told a press conference in Perth on Monday ahead of the semi-final.
Selwood described himself as “fortunate” to play 332 games at Geelong Cats, a club he grew up supporting in Bendigo.
His 332 games, including three premierships, is even more remarkable given he had undergone multiple knee surgeries as a junior player prior to the Cats selecting him at pick seven.
“It’s pretty special being here for a long time, but it also says that I’ve been in good health for a long period of that time,” Selwood said.
“It’s been a ride that I’d love to do all over again and experience all the highs that I’ve had. Hopefully, I’ve still got a couple of highs left.”
But he would have had a few more games to go for the record if he had managed to convince Enright to play on.
Selwood remembered having a drink with ‘Boris’ just after the end of the 2016 season, at the bottom of an apartment block where Selwood lived at the time.
“He told me he was going to finish up,” he said.
“I told him to take a bit more time because I still thought he had some run in the legs and wanted him to keep playing on.
“I think he had made up his mind with his wife Renee and family – it was just his time, he said.
“He went out an All-Australian – that’s why I still thought he had run in his legs. And he was a hell of a player.”
Selwood admitted the record had “crept up” on him and thanked players, physios, doctors and club staff who had helped him get to where he is today.
“I’ve loved coming in and working, not only come the weekend but throughout the week with a lot of good people,” he said.
“It probably won’t be a record that will last for too long. I’m sure someone else will break it – big Hawk’s [Tom Hawkins] going so well at the moment.”
But Selwood said his focus was now firmly on the Giants after the Cats’ qualifying final loss to Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval last week.
“We’re a pretty competitive bunch,” he said.
“For a lot of us that played poor on the night – and there was a number of us – we were a bit angry at the way we performed.
“We played poor. We didn’t have a lot of winners on the night but what we do is we set ourselves up for a second chance.
“We don’t look back too much … we’ve reviewed the game for what it was.
“We’ve got a little bit of work to do together but we’re pretty focussed on the job at hand.”
