Geelong has celebrated Joel Selwood’s record-breaking 227th games as captain in style, with a stunning come-from-behind win over Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday.
Down by 30 points at three-quarter time, the Cats kicked seven unanswered goals in the final term to claim the 16.8 (104) to 13.13 (91) win.
Star forward Jeremy Cameron kicked six goals in the win, including three in the last quarter, in one of his best performances since arriving at GMHBA Stadium.
Selwood said it was a “special” win on what had been a big week for himself and the club.
The game was his 227th as captain of the Cats, breaking the record previously held by Carlton champion Stephen Kernahan.
“[We’re never] down and out,” Selwood said.
“They (teammates) were never going to give in.
“I walked out at quarter time and we have some guys with some massive egos, there’s a lot in the forward line, I was walking down with a couple of them and they just said, ‘get it into us and we’ll do the rest’.
“And that was a bit of the story, you’re going to get some momentum at some stage in the game these days and we just ate it up.
“I’m so proud of the boys.”
Coach Chris Scott said it was great to see how the team fought back for the victory.
“I suspect in part it was about Joel, but it was also about our young guys too, who haven’t been a part of games like that for Geelong before,” he said.
“Joel didn’t want it to be all about him, but it’s hard. It’s a record that is very, very hard to achieve and very, very hard to chase down. It’s a significant milestone and one that we should recognise.
“The overwhelming sense that I have and I’m proud of our players for is they believe.
“It has been a constant trait of our playing group for a long period of time. I thought at three-quarter time they didn’t have many reasons to believe we couldn’t turn it around the way we did.”
