Joel Selwood - 50th game this weekend

[hbk_aus]

Like every other football lover i love Joel Selwood. He is an absolute freak. But one thing that scares me a little is that he reminds me of Luke Ball..
They both throw themselves in and under and get hurt alot.
Now Ball was a brilliant player in his younger days, like Selwood (obviously Selwood is better). But Luke Ball took lots of hits and now doesnt seem to be the player he could have been. Whilst he is still a good league player, he's not as good as what he could have been had he improved on his early years.
Hopefully it doesnt happen to Joel Selwood.
Thoughts?

While they do have similar playing styles, i think Ball's problems were more to do with Osteitis Pubis than any contact injuries.

 

[gabstar]

I think Joel Selwood is Awesome

 

[AM]

Talk about hitting the nail right on the head. Reckon this does.

 

[Scarlett Fever]

I also have concerns about Selwood's longevity as a top line and regular player. I hope I am wrong and he does show considerable mental strength which may work for him. There are 3 reasons he may not last as long when compared to what we know about most players.

1) His playing style - Already mentioned above.

2) The knee - We all know other teams were advised by their medicos not to recruit him. But the details seem to have got lost in his great start to his career. The medicos knew he would play footy but they felt the knee would be degenerative and he may not last more than 5-6 years. We all rejoice in the fact that the other teams were wrong in their analysis. BUT they aren't wrong yet!! We still have to wait another 4 years until we know the outcome.
My fear is by then he could be our captain, our highest paid player and our player from whom we expect the most. That means if the medicos are proven right he could become a massive burden for our club. He could be off the park and like Neale Daniher. So damn good that we never give up trying to fix it. So we could have a period of time when our best player, our skipper and a large part of our salary cap is not on the park..

3) I was looking at the Supercoach %TOG (time on ground) stats the other day and I noticed that for a top line on baller his playing time was lower than other stars. Are the club hiding something? Are they protecting him? Do they know there is only so many miles in him?
The only other top liner with lower TOG was one L Ball.

 

[Ninty]

^ His TOG% would be lower since he has pretty much got knocked out every game this year, yet still performing awesome when on the field.

Well done Selwood, awesome player... Only 50 games... Feels like he's been around for ages but it's also come so quick.