Joel Selwood

Joel Selwood

Joel Anthony Selwood is a professional Australian rules footballer. He plays for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League. Selwood was selected with Geelong’s first pick, and seventh overall, in the 2006 AFL Draft. He made his AFL debut in 2007, winning the AFL Rising Star Award and AFLPA Best First Year Player Award. He has since become a triple premiership player, a NAB Cup winner, a six-time All-Australian—three times as captain, and a four-time recipient of the AFLPA Robert Rose Most Courageous player Award.

About Joel Selwood in brief

Summary Joel SelwoodJoel Anthony Selwood is a professional Australian rules footballer. He plays for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League. Selwood was selected with Geelong’s first pick, and seventh overall, in the 2006 AFL Draft. He made his AFL debut in 2007, winning the AFL Rising Star Award and AFLPA Best First Year Player Award. He has since become a triple premiership player, a NAB Cup winner, a six-time All-Australian—three times as captain, and a four-time recipient of the AFLPA Robert Rose Most Courageous player Award. In 2012, he was appointed as the captain of Geelong following the retirement of Cameron Ling. He captained the club to his fourth grand final in 2020, losing to Richmond by 31 points.Selwood was born to Bryce and Maree Selwood in the country town of Bendigo, Victoria. He was the state hurdling champion from under-10s through to the under-15s, and in one year held every running and jumping record at the Bendigo Sports Centre, except the 100 metres sprint. His mother Maree was a top runner and tennis player, and elder twins Adam and Troy were identified as talented footballers at a young age. By age eight, Selwood had played his first competitive game of football, against children four years his senior, and had kicked three goals. His achievements as a junior included Most Valuable Player awards at state and international levels, captaining Australia in the International Rules Series, and selection in the All- Australian and TAC Cup Team of the Year sides.

However a serious knee injury during his final year of junior football forced him into the competition only six rounds into his final season. He won mid-year State honours for Victoria Country in the AFL National Championships. He also represented the Victorian state team as the youngest player to feature in the all-star event, and has been awarded life membership withGeelong. He holds one of the highest winning percentage records of any player in VFL-AFL history, helping the club reach three successive AFL Grand Finals from 2007 to 2009 and another in 2011. His performances in Ireland earned him the Ron Barassi Medal, the Most Valued Player of the Tour in Ireland, and the Rewcy Rewcy Award for his performances in the final season of the Australian Rules Series. He is also a triple Carji Greeves Medallist, a Michael Tuck Medallists, a Mike Fitzpatrick Scholarship and the AFL Players Association Life Members Education Fund Award winner. He was awarded a scholarship within the prestigious AIS-AFA Academy, and subsequently captained his older teammates in the annual under-18 International Rules series in Ireland. In 2011 he was awarded a life membership by Geelong after serving one season as the club vice-captain in 2011, and was named the club’s captain for the 2012 season. His accomplishment as a bottom-aged player earned him end-of-year All-Australians honours.