Geelong’s young skipper,Joel Selwood, takes us back to when his favourite club granted his greatestwish with a first round call up in the 2006 national draft.

After finishing year12 exams, Selwood took off to Perth with a few schoolmates before flying back homeon the eve of the draft to be with family and friends.

His two brothersTroy and Adam, who were already playing AFL football for Brisbane and WestCoast, also flew home to be with their younger brother.

“I got home onthe Friday and the draft was on the Saturday. I had family and close friendsaround that day and the boys got back from West Coast and Brisbane, where theyhad already been drafted, so it was just a nice family affair and pretty quiet,”Selwood recalls.  

The year of the 2006draft, Selwood was hampered with a long-term knee injury, which inevitably putsome doubt in Selwood’s mind.

However, the GeelongCats didn’t let his dubious thoughts hang over him for long, calling his name inthe first round at pick number seven.

“I was prettyrelieved, as I obviously had the year off with a knee injury, that I had leadinginto the year - and to get to Geelong, the club that I had always supported andloved from a young kid, it was just a dream come true,” Selwood said.  

Remarkably the 26year-old skipper, who holds 184 games and three premierships, is less than aseason away from reaching his 200^th game.

This year he was namedAll-Australian for the fourth time and was honoured Captaincy for the secondconsecutive year.

Following this achievement, Selwood added his third Carji Greeves Medal in Geelong’s 2014 Best and Fairestvote count, plus he raked in 21 Brownlow votes, placing him only five votesaway from this year’s Brownlow Medalist MattPriddis from the West Coast Eagles.