With the arrival of champion Gary Ablett Jnr to the club, Scott Selwood knows he will need to be more than just a midfielder for the Cats to have success in 2018.

Ablett’s arrival in the offseason gives the Cats a tantalising midfield set-up that includes Joel Selwood, Patrick Dangerfield, Mitch Duncan, Sam Menegola, Mark Blicavs and a host of up-and-coming players.

But with ten players not fitting into four midfield spots, the younger Selwood knows he’ll need to develop more parts to his game to help the Cats.

“There’s five or six guys that can go through there (the midfield),” Selwood told Krock Football.

“It’s looking to play multiple roles, trying to see if I can jump out on a wing a little bit more, or a half forward role.

“I want to be really available for any position. There’s going to be a lot challenges for spots and at different times guys are going to need a rest, so I’ll just play my role whatever that is.” 

Just being able to participate in this year’s pre-season has been a blessing for Selwood who has had interrupted starts to both of his other pre-seasons at the club.

“This time last year I hadn’t really done a pre-season for a while,” he said.

“I really wanted to push myself and get my body into a really good shape and get as much from the pre-season. But I ended up breaking down going too hard.

“It’s about continuity, not going to hard and managing my loads and things like that. It’s been about maintaining my fitness and not trying to challenge it too much.

“When games start I’ll hopefully step up a bit more and keep going.

“I take it slow if we change anything or there’s a new training load.

“It usually takes a bit longer, but there’s no pain and I’m just excited to be out there running at this time of year.”