Joel Selwood has opened up on the conjecture that has followed much of his career during an interview with SEN's Dwayne's World,ย detailing the impact that crowd booing and media coverage has had on his life throughout his 16 years in the game.
The three-time premiership player is no stranger to earning the ire of opposition fans given his tendency to play on the edge, often earning head high free kicks thanks to his game style.
When asked how he copes with booing while on the field, the 33-year-old revealed that he accepts that not all fans will like him, but that it is an "ugly part of sport."
โYou canโt please everyone,โ Selwood answered.
โI regularly listen to a few people that I obviously like to and Iโm happy to share them with you, a Nathan Buckley or a Nick Riewoldt, those guys that are straight out of the game that call the game and call it for what it is, I think you also get a lot of feedback from them.
โIโm guessing that you (Russell) are talking about the rules and head highs and all that, you get an understanding that they see it differently and theyโve been living in it for a long time.
โWe would just appreciate it if everyone called it that way too.โ
Selwood added that he believed media coverage influenced fans' perception of him as a player.
โI think the commentators, from what we understand, you get a briefing at the start of the year and I think thereโs a consistency to probably just have to go with that commentary. Iโm not talking about you personally Dwayne, I think across the board thereโs a number of people,โ Selwood said.
โIf youโre in the game a long time youโre going to have a lot of people that are not going to like particular ways that you go about footy,โ he added.
โItโs not something that keeps me up at night.
โI fear for my mum and my wife and people around me (on the booing), but not necessarily for myself.โ
Just 11 games short of hitting the 350 game milestone, Selwood has already solidified his spot as one of the all time greats at Geelong. Dwayne Russell spoke candidly after the interview, echoing Selwood's sentiments.
โHe was fairly stern with me, I think, but I know Joel a bit and I think he was stern with me, kind of saying, โwell, you guys in the media could support us ball getters a bit more than you doโ,โ Russell said.
โHe, I think, feels that some people in the media want to rev up (the narrative of), โoh, thatโs high, oh, he duckedโ scenario.
โSo it was good to hear him not necessarily try to put me back in my place, but give a perspective from him.
โBut to call booing the ugly side of sport was an interesting acceleration of that whole debate.
โTo hear Joel Selwood say that it doesnโt affect him but it affects his family, and he doesnโt really like it for their aspect, it was interesting to hear, it was nice to have a chat with him.โ
