According to the Chinese lunar calendar, 2018 will be the year of the dog. However, the 2018 AFL lunar calendar would without doubt be the year of Joel Selwood.

The Cats courageous skipper will notch up a trio of milestones should everything go to plan in his 12th season.

The first is expected to be his 250th game in round one against Melbourne at the MCG. Selwood is 16th on the Cats all time games list at the moment and could move as high as equal 10th by the end of the season. Incredibly, he has sung “We Are Geelong” after 75% of the 249 games he has played so far.

In that first round game, potentially in the first minute, Selwood could also claim another incredible record for the club. Currently, he has amassed 1314 tackles leaving him two shy of the Cats tackles record of 1316 set by former teammate Jimmy Bartel. 

Two rounds later, Selwood is due to complete perhaps his greatest individual achievement when he surpasses Reg Hickey for most games as captain of the Cats. Selwood has captained the blue and white in 140 games up until the end of 2017 and will surpass Hickey’s current record of 142 in round three.

Steve Johnson will be looking nervously over his shoulder in 2018 as Tom Hawkins attempts to displace him from number three on the Cats all-time goal kicking list. Hawkins, on 438 goals, is just three shy of Billy Brownless (441 goals) in fourth spot and 14 behind Johnson (452 goals) in third spot. Hawkins has his work cut out for him reaching the Cats top two goalkickers of all time with Doug Wade (834 goals) and Gary Ablett Snr (1021 goals) a long way off.

And for the club, round three will see the new Perth Stadium become the 32nd venue the club has played a VFL/AFL game at. The Cats current record at Western Australian grounds is 19 wins and 20 losses, so the debut at the ground may also even up the ledger. 

Finally, plenty of Cats will push for AFL and club milestones in 2018. These include:

Joel Selwood - 250 games (currently 249)

Harry Taylor - 250 games (229)

Gary Ablett Jnr - 200 games for the Cats (192)

Cam Guthrie – 150 games (128)

Jordan Murdoch – 100 games (92)

Patrick Dangerfield – 50 games for the Cats (48)

George Horlin-Smith – 50 games (47)

Jake Kolodjashnij – 50 games (47)

Zac Smith - 50 games for the Cats (44)

Rhys Stanley - 50 games for the Cats (42)

Lachie Henderson – 50 games for the Cats (41)

Jackson Thurlow - 50 games (39)

Nakia Cockatoo – 50 games (32)

Sam Menegola – 50 games (30)

Lincoln McCarthy – 50 games (27)

Zach Tuohy - 50 games for the Cats (25)