The Selwood twins
At the 23 minute mark of the last quarter the Eagles led Sydney by one point.
The Swans had been attacking most of the quarter and looked more likely to win. The Eagles had come the long way home to the 2006 Grand Final and did not have a lot left to give. The Swans intercepted the Eagles attack 40 metres out from their goal and were about to clear when Daniel Chick smothered the Ryan O’Keeffe kick, which knocked the ball into the path of Adam Hunter. Hunter collected the ball and Chick applied a bump to give him time and space to run towards the goal at the Punt Road end, the same end Dom Sheed kicked to twelve years later at about the same stage of that grand final. Hunter scored the goal.
Lucky he did because Sydney came again and kicked the next, to make it a one point game once more. The Swans were attacking again and there was a boundary throw in about 30 metres from the Sydney goal. The siren sounded. The Eagles ruck Dean Cox throws his arms in the air. Right in front of him is Adam Selwood, who, capping an outstanding season (in which he finished fifth in the Best and Fairest), had played a terrific 26-possession game. High in the Southern Stand behind the ‘Hunter goals’ my daughter and I wave our flags and sing the song. Eagles are Premiers for 2006.
I went to the Eagles post-game function that night at the Crown Palladium. The mood was ebullient. Late in the evening after the formalities had concluded, I went to get my Weg poster and cards signed by some of the team. I spotted Selwood and approached with a marker. ‘Would you mind signing my poster please?’
Selwood looked at me. ‘I could,’ he said ‘but I don’t think you would be very happy when you looked at it in a few years.’ ‘Why not?’ I queried. ‘Because I think this is the bloke you want to sign it’ and Troy Selwood laughed, pointing as his twin brother Adam cruised into view with other members of the Selwood clan. The twins embraced and we all had a laugh about the fact that I had got the wrong Selwood – I nearly had my poster signed by a Brisbane Lions player! I took another look at them as Adam applied his signature; the boys were identical. I had never seen them together. I hadn’t realized how much alike they were. I forgave myself for making the error. Adam generously also signed a footy card. We all shook hands and the twins headed off together with their family, laughing – at my mistake I guessed. But everyone was happy.
I thought again about how much alike Troy and Adam were when I heard today about Adam’s death three months after Troy’s shocking, untimely passing – poignantly, in the same week as we lost Adam’s team-mate, Adam Hunter.
Troy had ‘been working through his mental health for probably two decades at least and recognised relatively early on in his AFL career that he needed support,’ Adam told Nine News in April. Adam had been planning to run a half-marathon later this month to support a mental health charity because of Troy’s death. He told Nine; ‘We loved running together growing up, it was one part of us to become football players, we knew that going out to do cross country runs together. We actually joined a club in our teenage years, they were some of our real happy memories.’ Adam urged people struggling to seek help and said he felt his brother had already prevented many tragedies.
It is heartbreaking to bear the weight of those words today.
When I heard that Adam had died, I thought about that night in 2006 when nothing else mattered but being together and laughing. Sharing the joy. Enjoying the good times. Thinking the good times would last.
Not for the first time I thought what a wonderful thing it was that our game could give us such moments. Families coming together to share something that mattered. To share moments that counted. That transcended the tough times. That made them worth the pain. The pain that it took to get there. The pain that would come when the crowds have gone and the cheering has stopped.
Because the tough times will come back. The bright, late-September Melbourne sunshine and the euphoria that fills your heart when the siren sounds and you are ahead by one point and kings of the world, doesn’t last forever.
Not even for 20 years.
And so much harder without your best mate.
I wish now that they had both signed my poster.
The card signed by Adam [Source: Author]
PS. I hope today that all their gardens are full of willie wagtails.
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Poignant. A couple of lines stood out. “The tough times will come back.” “I wish they had both signed my poster.” Amen.
Is a twin umbilically linked to the pain and fear of the other more than conventional siblings? Depression comes in many forms. Exogenous – I am depressed because of “life circumstance”. Endogenous – I am depressed for internal biochemical reasons that have no apparent basis.
Is it harder to accept and cope with things we don’t understand or logically feel we should be able to handle?How do we put words to primal angst? And if we can’t put words to it – how do you ask for help for something you can’t verbalise?
The American author William Styron (“Sophie’s Choice”) in his memoir “Darkness Visible” said the worst part of his depression was the hopelessness more than the pain. The feeling that there was no relief – just moving from pain to pain. And while a physical illness offered the absolution of treatment and a hospital bed, the depressive had to carry his invisible bed of nails through social and family interactions – pretending it did not exist.
Adam’s final home game was a bleak, rainy August night at Subiaco in a forgettable 2013 season. I had bought concert tickets months prior to see The Whitlams – not realising it coincided. In the lead up we agonised, but it. was also the last game for Andrew Embley – another favourite. Early career we called Embley “the Red Setter” because his hair flopped across his eyes and he ran in circles chasing non-existent balls.
While the cause was hopeless the Avenging Eagle and I decided we had to honour 2 men we had seen grow as footballers; admired as resolute battlers; and had deliver the ultimate joy of 2006 (we didn’t dare go back after the desolation of 2005). The Cats beat us by 11 goals in the slush
Grateful now that we stood in the rain that night to salute a (too soon) passing soldier.
A lovely reflection John. Thanks for sharing
John, your final comment was just perfect. I wish you had got both of them to sign too.
I started hearing about the Selwood twins just after the 2001 Draft. A woman I worked with had the newspaper report of their “twin draft” success displayed on the wall of her office for all to see. Not realising that she even knew what football was, I asked what the connection was. She very proudly told me that she was the boys’ Auntie and had followed their football journeys right from their early days. When I asked her who was the better player, without a moment’s hesitation, she told me that it was their younger brother Joel who would be “even better”. I never met any of the Selwoods, but from that moment, I took an interest in their progress and – even though they all played for the opposition – admired them from afar.
“Because the tough times will come back”.
So very true. Unfortunately.
Beautiful, reflective piece John.
Thanks
Frank