Retired 14. Joel Selwood (2007-2022)

[GeeCat]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

Agreed, He copped a big hit early on into the second quarter.

The thing with that was, it was a contested ball to be won, and he didn't care one bit that he was going to cop it from both sides. He wanted it, and he won it - tapped it out to the loose player hanging off the pack and we were off.

Reminiscent of his very first touch against the Tigers early in the year; sandwiched in the center square as he won the contested ball.

I love him.

 

[GeeCat]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

Joel Selwood (Bendigo Pioneers)

182/80 mid-age right foot (dual-sided) midfielder/HBF.

*STYLE LIKE: Luke Ball

*MY RANKING (not meant to reflect appropriate draft pick to use): 11

*PROBABILITY OF AFL CAREER: Definite. Ready year 1.

- Within an AFL team list, could prove capable of SUSTAINING a ranking of 5-10.

*HURT FACTORS (Offensive/Defensive/Negative): M / H / L-M

*REACH (compared to the average player of his height): 4cm disadvantage.

*TRADEMARK:

- Hard running to get to or make a contest then show courage, balance and ball control to finish up with the pill and, displaying good vision, do an accurate feed to a well-spotted target then block for that team-mate then run on.

*MAIN SELLING POINTS:

- Competitiveness
- Endurance and making full use of it
- Read the play
- Ethic
- Vision inside traffic
- Handball
- Consistency
- Ball control

*MAIN QUERY:

- Pace
- After-effect of knee injury.

*SUMMARY ASSESSMENT, RECOMMENDATION:

- A highly competitive First Dibs midfielder who is an elite play-reader with great ability to win the ball and to pressure opponents from winning it cleanly. A very balanced genuine footballer who has excellent vision and is very good by hand and strong overhead.

You can always be confident that he will get to a helluva lot of contests and be very competitive in any type of contest, ground level or overhead, regardless of pressure, and against different types of opponents. What he lacks in pace he makes up for in smarts and competitiveness. If I had to describe him in "one" word it would probably be either "relentless" or "highly-competitive".

- Shorter than his twin brothers but more reliable disposal and decision-making. In most other respects, he has the typical Selwood positives (courage, ethic, endurance, competitiveness, overhead, lack of pace).

I would expect him to go about 6-8. I ranked just slightly lower at 11 (including Hawkins) but, subject to knee recovery, he will definitely be a very good AFL player and probably plug 'n play.

*DISPOSAL:

- Very good by hand. Not failsafe but his good feeds have high hurt factor - very sharp, powerful or well-weighted, and usually to a spotted target in clear space. Very quick hands. Plenty of accurate lookaways and "gather and feed in same motion"s.

- Nothing special (in any way) about his kicking. I would describe his kicking overall as "OK". He is certainly a more reliable kick than Armitage and no worse than Hislop for hitting targets. Gibbs and Moss, for example, are more reliable kicks.

- Healthy mix of kicks to feeds and long kicks to short.

- Dual-sided.

*DECISION-MAKING, SMARTS:

- Reads the play very well.

- Plenty of players cover a lot of ground but, unlike some, Selwood routinely runs to the right areas of the ground at the right time and to the right spots at a play. Bobs up all over the place, such is his combination of endurance, ethic and play-reading.

- Excellent shortish distance vision (i.e. options within handballing distance), especially from inside traffic.

- Very footy smart. Not just instinctive smarts but in his ability to direct his team mates (incl rucks) and to have a regular eye on where players of both teams are positioning themselves. That was evident even last year in the U18 Champs as below-age. Also very good at cutting the angles, a big help when you lack some pace.

- He's one of those players whose disposal decision-making is not as reliable when he has plenty of time on the run as it is when he has little time to think. His ability to think his way out of trouble, very quickly spot the right option with great vision and instinctive smarts, and time and weight his feeds is excellent. When his brain doesn't need to be sharp, he can let himself down by kicking to a contest a bit too often.

- Very sharp evasion and alertness. Good traffic management.

- Disciplined.

*HANDS:

Usually clean, all levels.

*OVERHEAD MARKING:

- Very competitive for his size, despite (officially) a 4cm reach disadvantage. Good balance in a marking contest and good judgement and hands. Fearless and can mark from all positions, including across the face of the pack or with the flight.

*ATHLETICISM:

- For injury reasons, I wouldn't read too much (anything?) into his DC results.

- Excellent endurance

- Definitely lacks pace but is somewhat quicker, especially off the mark, than his test times over the last 2 years would suggest. (In particular his 5m and 10m DC times, which were shockers presumably due to knee recovery). A genuinely quick player will leave Selwood in his wake on a long run. However, first the player might have to get the ball instead of Selwood and/or might have to get around him and good luck to whoever can do both.

- Very balanced.

- Is furnishing into a lovely build for an AFL inside type. In appearance, Selwood looked like a smaller version of Xavier Ellis last year but has added 7kg since and looked very strong this year.

*INTENSITY, ETHIC:

- No questioning either his ethic or intensity.

- Covers an enormous amount of ground and runs very hard both ways.

- Fearless.

- Attacks both man and ball. Effective tackler.

- Has a bit of controlled aggro in him. Won't be physically intimidated but doesn't mind making his own physical presence felt.

*CONSISTENCY:

- Consistent game to game. Output can be quiet in a particular ¼ or even ½ but effort is very consistent and he never finishes a game without having had impact for a sustained period.

*AFL VERSATILITY:

- Natural onballer in a Luke Ball sense but potentially in a Kirk style as well. Could play either flank role (esp HBF), or even wing on the right opponent.

*CSI (COMPARATIVE SCOPE for IMPROVEMENT):

- No special factors. Missed virtually a year and is from the country but has been right through the system.

*SOME STATS:

- Stats summary '06 TAC:
Averaged 22 disposals in 3 TAC games. 1.7 contested markes. 4.0 tackles. Total goals 3-2 .
13 kicks per 20 disposals.
Ineffective kicks: 2.3 per 10 kicks.
Ineff handballs: 3.2 per 10 handballs (ranking No.25 for highest in comp).
Ineffective disposals: 5.1 per 20 disp.
HandBall Receives: 6.4 per 20 disp. Uncontested marks: 3.9 per 20 disp. HR+UM: 10.3 per 20 disp.
Contested Marks: 1.5 per 20 disp.
At least 24 disposals in 2 games.

- Stats summary '05 TAC:
Averaged 24 disposals in 12 TAC games (ranking No.17 in comp). 4.9 marks. 3.2 tackles. Total goals 6-6 . 13 kicks per 20 disposals. 4 marks per 20 possessions.
- Mid-way trend .. % change in disposals was -1%. % change in marks was + 4%. % change in tackles was -19%.

- Stats summary '05 U18 Champs:
Averaged 22 disposals and 5.3 marks in his 3 games. (Best TD 26).
Kicks per 20 disp: 10.
Kicks long vs short: 19-10 (7 long per 10 kicks).
Ineffective kicks: 5/34 (1.5 per 10 kicks), incl 0 clangers (0.0 per 10 kicks).
Ineffective handballs: 4/32 (1.3 per 10 handballs), incl 0 clangers (0.0 per 10 handballs).
Ineffective disposals: 9/66 (2.7 per 20 disp), incl 0 clangers (0.0 per 20 disp).
HandBall Receives: 21/66 (6 per 20 disp).
Hardball gets: 9/66 (3 per 20 disp).
S.P. clearances: 8/66 (2 per 20 disp), incl 1 BU (0 per 20 disp), incl 4 CBC (1 per 20 disp).
Tackles: 11 (Avg 3.7 per game).
Marks: 16 (5 per 20 disp), incl 2 contested (1.3 per 10 marks).

*OTHER STUFF:

- All Aust LY.
- TAC Team Of Year LY: HFF.
- AIS
- 2 Coaches Award votes '06 (polled in 1 games).
- Missed almost all '06 after knee injury Rnd 6. (Also had to contend with knee and hammy problems in the few games he did play in '06)

 

[Metallica_Man]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

Played a great game today, got about 30 possessions!

 

[Prismall32]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

Have to applaud this young star! Great game against a tough Brisbane. Modest young man too.

 

[VoRogue]

Robert Walls gives Selwood a big wrap

Just read an article by Robert Walls regarding the next generation of superstars and i can't believe he actually had something good to say about a Geelong player

The next generation of superstars

Robert Walls | June 23, 2007

JOEL SELWOOD (GEELONG)

The Bendigo boy had great wraps on him as a junior footballer and even though he played only a handful of games last year due to a knee injury, the Cats snapped him up with their first pick in the 2006 draft. Was shown the way as a youngster by older twin brothers Adam (West Coast) and Troy (Brisbane), who are enjoying successful careers well away from Bendigo. Good judges rate him a mini-Nathan Buckley. He does all the extras, doesn't tolerate fools, is switched on and looks set to be an elite midfielder who should one day captain the Cats.

 

[GeeCat]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

Drink up Bluesy, you deserve it.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

Pendlebury gone for rest of the season.

Joel was already a fair margin ahead in Rising Star calculations IMO, but now he's a lock.

 

[Leaping Larry]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

Poise beyond his years with very few turn overs. He is rock solid and provides the Cats with another midfield option.
Who will other teams try and tag????? Far too many options, we will win it all

 

[CF]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

Congratulations Joel Selwood: 2009 nab Cup Michael Tuck Medalist

THEY’RE not a bad footballing family, the Selwoods.

Two brothers already have premiership medallions, and Joel Selwood added to the trophy cabinet on Friday night when he won the Michael Tuck Medal for best afield in the NAB Cup grand final.

The Cats got hold of the Magpies in the second term and effectively ended the contest on their way to a 40-point half-time lead.

The Geelong midfield was the prime mover in the destruction, with Selwood kicking two goals and Gary Ablett three.

Selwood said everything just clicked in the second term as the team worked towards its pre-match goal.

"You go through little patches in games and I was still feeling pretty fresh going into the second quarter," he said of his own performance.

"You do feel like you’re getting the ball a bit, but you go back to the basics and I don’t think there was anything too special that I did out there tonight.

"Any premiership you play for, you want to win and Matty Scarlett made that pretty clear at the start of the game. Cameron Ling did too."

But despite all his success, Selwood, who won’t celebrate his 21st birthday until May, said he's in no danger of getting carried away with himself.

"As Bomber (coach Mark Thompson) said, it’s easy with the calibre of players you’ve got around to try and lift the standard, so it’s easy to follow suit," he said.

"It’s not hard down at Geelong – you get pulled back into line pretty quick.

"If you’re doing something wrong, I’m sure Harls (captain Tom Harley) or Lingy (Cameron Ling) – they’ll jump on it pretty quick.

"I don’t put too much pressure on myself. I just come out and play the role for the side and I think every team member did that today.

"Especially in the first three quarters, anyway – we played really good footy, and that’s where we want to be at."

Bigpond Video Click here

 

[Hollow Knight]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

Will win 2 Brownlows minimum.

Not a matter of "if", just a matter of "when".

If Leuenberger didn't have such a great game last night, I'd be crying tears onto my cornflakes right now.

 

[Pivo]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25311801-19742,00.html

• JOEL Selwood is just a touch sheepish when we meet. He knows he has turned me into a stalker.

Nothing personal, he says, before explaining his reluctance of the past six months to be interviewed.
He makes his point with both simplicity and impact.
"I know everything about me," he says.
"I like reading the papers, but I'm not a person that really likes being in them all that much.
"I want to know about other things, other people."
Sadly for Selwood, he is more interesting than most.
Occasionally, a young man arrives on the AFL scene and looks as if he has been round for 5-6 years.
As if he belongs. As if he will be staying for quite a while, too.
Young men of their time such as Leigh Matthews, Geoff Southby, Greg Williams, Wayne Carey, Michael Voss, James Hird and Chris Judd.

And now the kid in No. 14 at Geelong.

The third of Bendigo's amazing Selwood quartet will cringe to see his name associated with such illustrious company, yet, to this point, he is where they were at the corresponding point of their careers.
At 20, he is the Rising Star of 2007, a premiership player and a Victorian representative.
He has finished top 10 in a Brownlow and top five in a club best-and-fairest.
And, in terms of his ratio of wins to games, none of Matthews and Co comes near him.
Of 47 of a possible 52 matches since his debut at 18 in Round 1 2007, 43 of them have produced wins.
Yet, in his own words, he still is a kid, turning 21 next month.
In a reflection of the unforgiving demands of the game in the 21st century, he won't have the traditional 21st birthday celebration.
Two of his brothers, Adam and Scott, will be engaged with football commitments in Perth, Adam's twin, Troy, similarly with the Brisbane Lions.
Four boys playing league football is a parent's dream; four boys drafted by clubs in three different states is the nightmare.
Bryce and Maree Selwood have to make do in their attempts to follow the fortunes of their sons, watching Joel's games live in Victoria, watching the others on telly, watching Scott in the WAFL on DVD.
Joel Selwood is the appropriate vehicle for the cliched term, young gun.
Yet he's a throwback.

He plays the game as it was played years ago. He relishes the physical contact, the bumping, the tackling, the battle to find a way out of the mayhem when 30 players are in the area.
That's why the players rate him. He wins his own footy.
"I love footy, love the contact," he says.
"It was more contest footy in the late '90s.
"It's entertaining footy when you see bodies clashing; you hear the crowd roar when there's six tackles in a row. I enjoy that part of footy."
Selwood won more free kicks than any other player in 2008 with 64.
There are some who say he has developed an invisible target on his forehead; he scoffs at that notion.
"I keep hearing this target thing, but it's nothing, to be honest," he says.
"I've just been in the wrong spot at the wrong time a couple of times."
Most recently, he seemed to get worked over in the Round 1 game against Hawthorn.
There was contact to the head from a Sam Mitchell arm, then contact to the face from an errant Simon Taylor knee seconds later.
He says he had no knowledge at the time of the kneeing incident that cost Taylor two games and might have cost him four. He was asleep before he fell to ground.
The medical staff asked him what happened when he arrived on the bench and he said: "I think Mitchell hit me."
Selwood is loving his lifestyle, despite the restrictions on his social life.
"I've got the best footballer, you could say, in the league in Gary Ablett here; I've got one of the best taggers in Cameron Ling, I've got Jimmy Bartel, a Brownlow medallist; I've got Joel Corey, one of the most consistent performers of the last five years; I've got the best full-back in Matty Scarlett, and it keeps going on," he says.
"I'm still a kid at this football club, and I enjoy that.
"It could have turned out completely different.
"I could be at, say, Melbourne at the moment, not getting the ride that I'm getting here.
"I was lucky enough my pathway brought me down this way. I'm here and enjoying every bit of it."
Can he enlighten us on how he adapted so quickly to the demands of league football?
"Easy question," he says.

"The people round me. Definitely the people around me.
"Those players I mentioned (Ablett and Co), I've got experienced players around me, a great coaching staff to help me through."
I remind him they neither find nor kick the footy for him.
"Personally, I don't see it as anything special. I don't know how you say it, but I could have easily been in someone else's shoes and they could have been in my shoes," he says.
"I can see a number of other guys come in and play the role that I'm playing with GFC.
"You can say I've won my own footy, but that's the role I've had to play to keep my spot in the side from day one.
"If I didn't do that, I wouldn't have been playing, and I knew that."
Like all aware youngsters, Selwood knows he must continue to learn, to adapt.
He wants to kick more goals, as he should. He has 13 from 47 games.
"I'd like to be a midfield goalkicker, become a bit more dangerous that way," he says.
"I've just got to find myself in better spots."
There will times tonight when he will make Collingwood ponder what it would be like to have a player of his quality in its midfield, and it nearly happened.
Selwood was taken at No. 7 in the 2006 national draft, with Collingwood next in line.
"I thought I'd go at eight," he says.
"I just thought there were better players ahead of me at that stage of my career and Collingwood had shown the most interest in me.
"I thought I was heading there, for sure."
He is matter of fact about his upcoming birthday, about the restrictions on his social life.
"It's a hard life at times, but I wouldn't change it for the world. You've just got to enjoy yourself in other ways," he says.
We take his point. Given he is in the first year of what is believed to be a three-year agreement designed to keep him out of GC17's reach, he is expected to be earning $250,000-plus this year, with better to come.
He has bought a house in Geelong West, where he lives with Bendigo mates Brock Bauch and John Leyden, and is starting to interest himself in investment generally.
"I've been pretty good (with money) all the way through. We were never spoilt as kids," he says.
Selwood is a full-time footballer with a couple of ambassadorial roles. He represents the NAB and Guide Dogs Australia, a charity (the guide dogs, that is) adopted by him and his brothers.
Selwood, like his siblings, can't explain how four brothers all became league footballers on their genes.
"Dad was hopeless and Mum was all right at tennis," he says.

"We were just competitive kids growing up.
"I think there were a few uncles down the line who played in the VFL."
It appears they were the Crappers of the 1930s: Frank, Fred and Harry, from Eaglehawk and Castlemaine, who played briefly with different VFL clubs. The rest, it seems, was hunger and application, and accommodating parents.
"They never pushed us. That was probably the most important thing. Dad just sat back, watched us, encouraged us," he says.
Joel misses his brothers, but speaks to all of them two or three times a week on the phone. "We had four or five days in Perth over Christmas, which was great," he says.
It's the modern game: have talent, will travel, and the Selwoods, from the parents down, know it, accept it, enjoy it.

 

[CF]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

Joel Selwood and Brett Kirk enjoy mutual admiration

JOEL Selwood was a typical young Geelong supporter of the 1990s, with Gary Ablett Sr his hero.

As he grew and developed as a footballer, prophetically, he adopted Sydney's Paul Kelly as a hero.

When Kelly retired in 2002, Selwood transferred his allegiance to another hard-working, iron-willed Swan midfielder, Brett Kirk.

Then, on Brownlow night in 2007, he learnt the feeling was mutual.

The Sydney star spotted Selwood during the medal count, made his way across to the Geelong table and introduced himself.

"I told him I just loved the way he goes about his footy," Kirk said yesterday.

"Wished him luck (for the Grand Final the following Saturday) and left him alone.

"I've got huge respect for him. I've loved him from the start. He's the type of player I look at from afar and say, 'I'd love to be in the trenches with him'. I love how hard he is at the footy, how humble he is. I think he's going to be a great leader of the Geelong Football Club."

Told Selwood had adopted him as a role model, Kirk said: "That really surprises me, makes me smile. I'm a bit taken aback."

They played on each other for half a game last year in Round 20 at ANZ Stadium.

"We just thought we might play a bit tighter on him (than teams who sent their best run-with player to Gary Ablett, Joel Corey or Jimmy Bartel)," Kirk said.

Geelong won by six goals; Selwood gained yet more valuable experience.

"I really admire him as a guy and a player," Selwood said this week.

"He's just such a hard person to play on. Everything he does. He works so hard, he doesn't hold, he wins his own footy, he sets them up.

"He's always talking at stoppages. You're thinking, 'How am I going to beat this bloke?'. I'm blowing my guts out and he's talking and yapping and yapping'."

Selwood said the pair had chatted at two Brownlow counts and during the week of the 150th birthday celebrations last year.

Kirk, universally admired for his attack on the ball, said Selwood was just as hard and had a couple of other strings to his bow. "He can play outside and can use the footy," he said.

"He's going to go down as one of the greats of the last 10 years. With (James) Hird, (Mark) Ricciuto, (Nathan) Buckley and those sort of guys.

Vossy? "Yeah, yeah, definitely. Same mould as Vossy."

Now, that's an endorsement.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25311798-19742,00.html

 

[gabstar]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

Joel Selwood is absolutely Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CF]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

[youtube]rTEeBkLbXic[/youtube]

 

[red+black]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

Joel Selwood:

First 4 games: 2 losses, 2 wins
Next 48 games: 2 losses, 46 wins

 

[Jubair]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

After watching tonight's game it just reaffirmed for me how much admirable Selwood is. His attack on the footy and his decision making with the ball, I reckon every midfielder wanting to improve their game should just watch Selwood play. Top game again!

 

[deadfish]

Re: No. 14 Joel Selwood

[youtube]XMUeW5gwmmY[/youtube]

Funny stuff!

 

[romeoh]

Re: 2011 Geelong Board player review - THREE senior players remain!

Joel Selwood
Joel strutted –not arrogantly as such, but in a ‘let’s get on with it, no fuss’manner- into our club in 2007 and I have been a fan ever since. He was picked at number 7 in the draft but there was a question mark over his knee-yet he clicked straight into playing football at Geelong. It was clear almost immediately that he would be a key player for us. I read once how he sometimes goes to Corio Bay after a match at night and walks in the water to ensure his body stays strong-I thought –good –such attention to detail-such willingness to do the hard yards.
I like how he puts his body on the line in contests, how he puts his head over the ball--and so he came to be injured in the first game of 2011-not flinching in his endeavour to get that ball. I was there and I thought he was a goner for a minute. He missed a game after that but came back and played good, solid football epitomised by his game against Hawthorn in round 12. The usual instruction from the Hawthorn bench-‘take Selwood out of the game by fair means or foul’, must have been given- but his application to the task didn’t waiver, particularly in that willing last half when he got to so many contests and turned the ball our way with such deft skills.
Then he missed four games and I thought that when he returned, although he got plenty of the ball, it took him a while to regain his real form --it was a long time out and we lost 2 games in that time-for several reasons- and I am not saying we would have won them, but I am happier when he is in the team. He will always compete and keep us in the contest. His skills have been lovely-he could kick for goal better, but what else could he do better-not much?
He led from the front again this year-cool and calm and made sensible decisions, showed good vision, all the time really. He ran himself back into lively form at the business end of the season and was instrumental in the finals. I enjoyed reading the quote from Darren Glass? after the West Coast final when he said at the stoppages you’d look around and Joel and Scott Selwood would be lying on the ground after a clash of heads, going in for that ball.
What about that Grand Final when Joel and Jimmy were everywhere in the last part of that second quarter when something had to be done-so the tough got going?
A terrific year from a natural footballer, a tough and determined competitor and a resolute, consistent player who refuses to yield when it matters.

 

[Aussiemac82]

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/138311/default.aspx

A first year captain rated number one in the league. Our man Joel.

Leading by example and sets the tone every time he pulls on the boots. His output has improved this year and is likely to lead us into this years final series.

It is another example of our development team and pursuit of excellence.

 

[dazbroncos]

He has retired.

'Best Player I've Ever Seen': Scott on Selwood

Geelong captain Joel Selwood has announced his retirement

www.geelongcats.com.au

I had to go back 6 pages to find this.

Remarkable player, person and leader.
Remarkably sad now.

GO Catters

 

[CabWesty]

It's worth going back to page 1 - fulfilled all the promise then some!

 

[Seeds]

It's worth going back to page 1 - fulfilled all the promise then some!

Except for the guy who said he would win 2 brownlows minimum. Guaranteed.

selwood has none but priddis, ollie wines and tom mitchell has one.

i cant compute this.

selwood in the top 5 mids of his generation.

yeah i rank him higher then pendlebury.

 

[Baudolino]

selwood in the top 5 mids of his generation.

Agree.

His leadership and his toughness are so iconic that they unfairly overshadowed his freakish playing ability. I maintain that Joel's vision and decision-making with ball in hand was up there with the best I've ever seen. Insanely high footy IQ.

 

[Baudolino]

The Wiz has been kind enough to post his profile on Selwood.

Joel Selwood (Bendigo Pioneers)

182/80 mid-age right foot (dual-sided) midfielder/HBF.

*STYLE LIKE: L Ball

*MY RANKING (not meant to reflect appropriate draft pick to use): 11

*PROBABILITY OF AFL CAREER: Definite. Ready year 1.

- Within an AFL team list, could prove capable of SUSTAINING a ranking of 5-10.

*HURT FACTORS (Offensive/Defensive/Negative): M / H / L-M

*REACH (compared to the average player of his height): 4cm disadvantage.

*TRADEMARK:

- Hard running to get to or make a contest then show courage, balance and ball control to finish up with the pill and, displaying good vision, do an accurate feed to a well-spotted target then block for that team-mate then run on.

*MAIN SELLING POINTS:

• Competitiveness
• Endurance and making full use of it
• Read the play
• Ethic
• Vision inside traffic
• Handball
• Consistency
• Ball control

*MAIN QUERY:

• Pace
• After-effect of knee injury.

*SUMMARY ASSESSMENT, RECOMMENDATION:

- A highly competitive First Dibs midfielder who is an elite play-reader with great ability to win the ball and to pressure opponents from winning it cleanly. A very balanced genuine footballer who has excellent vision and is very good by hand and strong overhead.

You can always be confident that he will get to a helluva lot of contests and be very competitive in any type of contest, ground level or overhead, regardless of pressure, and against different types of opponents. What he lacks in pace he makes up for in smarts and competitiveness. If I had to describe him in "one" word it would probably be either "relentless" or "highly-competitive".

- Shorter than his twin brothers but more reliable disposal and decision-making. In most other respects, he has the typical Selwood positives (courage, ethic, endurance, competitiveness, overhead, lack of pace).

I would expect him to go about 6-8. I ranked just slightly lower at 11 (including Hawkins) but, subject to knee recovery, he will definitely be a very good AFL player and probably plug 'n play.

*DISPOSAL:

- Very good by hand. Not failsafe but his good feeds have high hurt factor - very sharp, powerful or well-weighted, and usually to a spotted target in clear space. Very quick hands. Plenty of accurate lookaways and "gather and feed in same motion"s.

- Nothing special (in any way) about his kicking. I would describe his kicking overall as "OK". He is certainly a more reliable kick than Armitage and no worse than Hislop for hitting targets. Gibbs and Moss, for example, are more reliable kicks.

- Healthy mix of kicks to feeds and long kicks to short.

- Dual-sided.

*DECISION-MAKING, SMARTS:

- Reads the play very well.

- Plenty of players cover a lot of ground but, unlike some, Selwood routinely runs to the right areas of the ground at the right time and to the right spots at a play. Bobs up all over the place, such is his combination of endurance, ethic and play-reading.

- Excellent shortish distance vision (i.e. options within handballing distance), especially from inside traffic.

- Very footy smart. Not just instinctive smarts but in his ability to direct his team mates (incl rucks) and to have a regular eye on where players of both teams are positioning themselves. That was evident even last year in the U18 Champs as below-age. Also very good at cutting the angles, a big help when you lack some pace.

- He's one of those players whose disposal decision-making is not as reliable when he has plenty of time on the run as it is when he has little time to think. His ability to think his way out of trouble, very quickly spot the right option with great vision and instinctive smarts, and time and weight his feeds is excellent. When his brain doesn't need to be sharp, he can let himself down by kicking to a contest a bit too often.

- Very sharp evasion and alertness. Good traffic management.

- Disciplined.

*HANDS:

Usually clean, all levels.

*OVERHEAD MARKING:

- Very competitive for his size, despite (officially) a 4cm reach disadvantage. Good balance in a marking contest and good judgement and hands. Fearless and can mark from all positions, including across the face of the pack or with the flight.

*ATHLETICISM:

- For injury reasons, I wouldn't read too much (anything?) into his DC results.

- Excellent endurance

- Definitely lacks pace but is somewhat quicker, especially off the mark, than his test times over the last 2 years would suggest. (In particular his 5m and 10m DC times, which were shockers presumably due to knee recovery). A genuinely quick player will leave Selwood in his wake on a long run. However, first the player might have to get the ball instead of Selwood and/or might have to get around him and good luck to whoever can do both.

- Very balanced.

- Is furnishing into a lovely build for an AFL inside type. In appearance, Selwood looked like a smaller version of Xavier Ellis last year but has added 7kg since and looked very strong this year.

*INTENSITY, ETHIC:

- No questioning either his ethic or intensity.

- Covers an enormous amount of ground and runs very hard both ways.

- Fearless.

- Attacks both man and ball. Effective tackler.

- Has a bit of controlled aggro in him. Won't be physically intimidated but doesn't mind making his own physical presence felt.

*CONSISTENCY:

- Consistent game to game. Output can be quiet in a particular ¼ or even ½ but effort is very consistent and he never finishes a game without having had impact for a sustained period.

*AFL VERSATILITY:

- Natural onballer in a Luke Ball sense but potentially in a Kirk style as well. Could play either flank role (esp HBF), or even wing on the right opponent.

*CSI (COMPARATIVE SCOPE for IMPROVEMENT):

- No special factors. Missed virtually a year and is from the country but has been right through the system.

*SOME STATS:

- Stats summary '06 TAC:
Averaged 22 disposals in 3 TAC games. 1.7 contested markes. 4.0 tackles. Total goals 3-2 .
13 kicks per 20 disposals.
Ineffective kicks: 2.3 per 10 kicks.
Ineff handballs: 3.2 per 10 handballs (ranking No.25 for highest in comp).
Ineffective disposals: 5.1 per 20 disp.
HandBall Receives: 6.4 per 20 disp. Uncontested marks: 3.9 per 20 disp. HR+UM: 10.3 per 20 disp.
Contested Marks: 1.5 per 20 disp.
At least 24 disposals in 2 games.

- Stats summary '05 TAC:
Averaged 24 disposals in 12 TAC games (ranking No.17 in comp). 4.9 marks. 3.2 tackles. Total goals 6-6 . 13 kicks per 20 disposals. 4 marks per 20 possessions.
- Mid-way trend .. % change in disposals was -1%. % change in marks was + 4%. % change in tackles was -19%.

- Stats summary '05 U18 Champs:
Averaged 22 disposals and 5.3 marks in his 3 games. (Best TD 26).
Kicks per 20 disp: 10.
Kicks long vs short: 19-10 (7 long per 10 kicks).
Ineffective kicks: 5/34 (1.5 per 10 kicks), incl 0 clangers (0.0 per 10 kicks).
Ineffective handballs: 4/32 (1.3 per 10 handballs), incl 0 clangers (0.0 per 10 handballs).
Ineffective disposals: 9/66 (2.7 per 20 disp), incl 0 clangers (0.0 per 20 disp).
HandBall Receives: 21/66 (6 per 20 disp).
Hardball gets: 9/66 (3 per 20 disp).
S.P. clearances: 8/66 (2 per 20 disp), incl 1 BU (0 per 20 disp), incl 4 CBC (1 per 20 disp).
Tackles: 11 (Avg 3.7 per game).
Marks: 16 (5 per 20 disp), incl 2 contested (1.3 per 10 marks).

*OTHER STUFF:

• All Aust LY.
• TAC Team Of Year LY: HFF.
• AIS
• 2 Coaches Award votes '06 (polled in 1 games).
• Missed almost all '06 after knee injury Rnd 6. (Also had to contend with knee and hammy problems in the few games he did play in '06)

Reading this draft profile 16 years later now that his career is over is kind of amazing.

 

[MacStradbroke]

Agree.

His leadership and his toughness are so iconic that they unfairly overshadowed his freakish playing ability. I maintain that Joel's vision and decision-making with ball in hand was up there with the best I've ever seen. Insanely high footy IQ.

Criminally underrated.