West Coast Eagles midfielder Scott Selwood has officially accepted an offer to join the Geelong Cats as a restricted free agent.
The deal isn’t done yet – as a restricted free agent, the Eagles have the right to match Selwood’s offer, and have three days in which to make that decision.
If the Eagles elect not to match Geelong’s offer, then Selwood’s transfer will be processed immediately and he will become a Cat.
Rumours have persisted throughout the season that Selwood was weighing up his options and likely to join the Cats, and now it appears those rumours have come to fruition.
The Eagles vice-captain and 2012 best-and-fairest winner has struggled for gametime this season, falling out of favour in coach Adam Simpson’s new-look midfield.
He played in the Eagles’ qualifying final win over the Hawthorn Hawks starting as the substitute, but was dropped for the preliminary final when Chris Masten and Matt Priddis returned.
He was selected as an emergency for the 2015 AFL Grand Final which the Eagles lost by 46 points.
The Eagles face a difficult choice over whether or not to match Geelong’s offer after the AFL earlier this week released clearer information regarding free agency compensation.
The Eagles might previously have considered themselves a strong chance of gaining a first round pick as compensation for Selwood, but that now appears unlikely.
A second round pick is the most likely compensation for Selwood and the Eagles may well decide to match Geelong’s offer in order to seek greater compensation for Selwood’s departure via a trade.
With Geelong also looking to make trades for Lachie Henderson, Zac Smith, and mostly likely Patrick Dangerfield, that could prove difficult to achieve.
Scott is one of four Selwood brothers all of whom have had AFL careers. His older brother Joel is the current Geelong captain and his movement to the Cats will reunite the two.
Troy Selwood played 75 games for the Brisbane Lions before being delisted in 2010, he then captained Geelong’s VFL team from 2011-2013, captaining the side to a VFL premiership in 2012.
Adam Selwood, twin of Troy, played 187 games for West Coast and was a member of the 2006 premiership side, but retired in 2013.
Scott has played 135 games with the Eagles since joining them at pick 22 in the 2007 AFL draft. However, he has played just 25 of a possible 47 games in the last two seasons, struggling with injury and form.
This makes Selwood the first free agent to accept an offer from a rival club in 2015, and potentially the first player to move clubs in 2015 should the Eagles choose not to match his offer before any other moves are completed.
A statement on the West Coast Eagles club website reads:
“Highly-regarded West Coast Eagles midfielder Scott Selwood has today informed the club that he wishes to return to Victoria as a restricted free agent.
“Under the AFL’s restricted free agency process, he has nominated Geelong as his preferred destination. West Coast will now commence the consideration of its next step.
“The West Coast Eagles will be making no further comment on this matter.”
c_roland
Guest
I don't agree. Read http://freeski.downdays.eu/2016/05/16/west-coast-session-10-the-final-offer-has-been-made/ Sincerely, Cleta
Nifty
Roar Rookie
I hope your wrong about Sinclair ,I'd hate to see him go he's developing nicely and I think has a big future at the Eagles ,I'd be surprised if they traded him ,but funkier things have happened
Nifty
Roar Rookie
From what I have seen he has had a good year his tackles are high but I think he is a better kick than Selwood ,the only thing that let Selwood down
Don Freo
Guest
Liam is not just "in the wings", Jamie. He had already gone past Selwood. Simon Black with more pace. Lamb will explode onto the scene next year too. I'm looking forward to what Cavka might do if his footy skills are as impressive as his running skills.
Don Freo
Guest
Maybe WC can convince Joel to come to Perth to work with Adam. If The Cats could get Adam to join the coaching staff at Geelong, where Troy is already at work, it would be the new "family club".
13th Man
Guest
Hmm that is an interesting scenario. West Coast will probably use the pick to get Redden who is like for like with Selwood anyway though
Jamie Radford
Roar Pro
I did forget about Redden.
Josh
Expert
I think they will probably use that first rounder to trade for Redden this year, which would likely take this specific scenario off the cards. Hypothetically that idea of a club trading a number of lower picks to a club with a high pick who is in need of points for father-son/academy players I think is definitely a strategy that clubs should be looking at in the future.
Jamie Radford
Roar Pro
I did think of those later picks when working it out. They will still have a 2nd round, which should be enough for Jetta, (and Sinclair could be involved in that anyway), and given where they are placed (age and ladder), and with blokes like Liam Duggan (gun), in the wings, top 10 would be better than late 1st, 2nd and 3rd picks in a shallow draft.
Josh
Expert
I hadn't thought of that, but that's actually a great idea - a genuine win-win scenario if ever there was one, so long as the Eagles don't mind giving up those later picks, and so long as the Giants are certain they'll need that many points. Good outside-the-box thinking, I like it. I don't think there's any rule that would prevent a trade like that going through, but the difficulty is of course that it would need to be made during trade period, which is well before the draft - and it's hard to nail down what bids will happen and what points value would be needed that far out from the draft. It's very much the kind of thing I could see happening if the AFL were to introduce live trading of picks during the draft.
Jamie Radford
Roar Pro
Teams seem to want to match offers this season on principal, although West Coast don't seem to be losing many players so it might not apply to them. I was just doing some quick calculations (your article the other day inspired this one Josh), and Eagle's 1st round, compo pick (37+), and their 3rd adds up to about 300 more points than GWS's 1st at 8. Not sure if it would be allowed but if Giants are using that pick for an Academy player, could another club - West Coast on this occasion, attempt to buy that first pick with the 3 selections I mentioned? Win win for both. GWS have more points to play with, and Eagles get top 10 pick. Keeping in mind academy rule only states teams must use their next selection plus whatever it takes to make up the points. What difference if that pick is 8, 18 or 27, as long as they have the total points.
Josh
Expert
Probably right, I think the Eagles will realise they're not going to get much better out of Geelong and just let him go. Still, they might go the hard route, especially with the industry opinion of a shallow draft coming up.
Josh
Expert
Don't think the Eagles are worried about letting Selwood go, no, but it's a matter of whether to let him go and take a compo pick, which might not be worth much, or match the offer and try to squeeze a better deal out of Geelong.
Ryan Buckland
Expert
Like I said in my ranking piece, I reckon the Eagles will be happy with a second round pick as compensation, given Selwood is effectively an idle asset.
Damo
Guest
Not sure how tough a decision it will be for the Eagles. With Duggan and Sheed coming on and the likely recruits of Jetta and Redden, Selwood might find even less game time next year.