Fairytale finishes are rare, which makes Joel Selwood’s remarkable

Joel Selwood capping off his illustrious career with a fourth premiership is remarkable.

In sport, as in life, it’s rare for people to exit on top and to do so at a time of their own choosing.

Just a few weeks earlier, David Mundy hung up the boots, but his was more bittersweet.

Mundy, like Selwood, is a one-club stalwart although he’s starved of Selwood’s success. Mundy was drafted to Fremantle from Seymour as a teenager, but he now calls Western Australia home and he and the club’s fortunes are intertwined as they both eye their elusive maiden premiership.

But it’s not to be. Despite showing promise throughout the season, this was not the Dockers’ year and their semi-final performance against Collingwood was a flop.

Yet, relative to others, Mundy is one of the lucky ones.

David Mundy (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Sport is brutal and Australian Rules Football is crueller than most. More often than not, players are being squeezed out as they are deemed unable to continue to add value to their team on the field.

In such a highly physical game, it makes sense. If a player’s body is unable to hold up for another season, then it’s probably not too crash-hot right now.

Moreover, it becomes increasingly difficult for a selection committee to justify playing a 30-something veteran if he’s no longer in the best 22. The rebuild is a crucial component to our game and there’s little room for sentimentality.

That was the case over at Brisbane for Mitch Robinson. Drafted to Carlton in 2008, the Tasmanian showed promise but off-field issues led them to delist him after six seasons and 100 games.

‘Robbo’ was thrown a lifeline by Justin Leppitsch and went to the cellar-dweller Lions. His recruitment was a stop-gap, coming to the club alongside Dayne Beams and Allen Christensen, with the intention of injecting mature-aged talent into this hopelessly young list.

But Robinson now calls Brisbane home and proved to be the most adaptable of the trio. He was instrumental to reversing the ‘go home’ factor at the club, and his open-house policy helped young interstate players feel at home.

When the club started climbing back up the ladder and A-grade recruits like Lachie Neale and Jarryd Lyons came, Robbo’s position in the midfield was under threat, but he reinvented himself as a wingman.

In his 14th season, Robbo hoped to hold Father Time off long enough to cap off his career with a premiership. But injuries caught up with him, young bulls pushed for his spot and he was dropped after Round 5.

He returned to the VFL for his first time as a Lion, found himself in and out of the side, was named in the elimination final against Richmond but, by this time, Robinson knew he was unlikely to play on with the Lions in 2023.

But the premiership dream was still, at that moment, alive. The Lions did defy the odds and advanced past Richmond, but Robinson had played his last game.

The return of Cameron Rayner and Noah Answerth from suspension meant someone had to make way and that someone unfortunately was Robinson.

Robinson’s swansong was also Shane Edwards’ last game. The circumstances are different but there are still commonalities.

Drafted in 2006 (the same year as Selwood), Edwards is a three-time premiership player and 300-game veteran for the Tigers. But there’s no time for sentimentality when you’ve got finals to win.

Edwards was dropped ahead of the elimination final against Brisbane to make way for the return of Dustin Martin, named as the medical sub. Edwards is a team-first man but even he must feel the sting of no longer being in the first choice 22 after all his service. Yet still he’s got to be prepared to come on at any moment should he be called.

That opportunity came in the second half, when Dion Prestia went down. Richmond fell agonisingly short and Edwards’ last hurrah was a cameo, not a farewell tour.

Over at Sydney, Josh Kennedy is a club legend. He was drafted to Hawthorn – the club of his father and grandfather – but found a new home at the Swans. 290 games, three best and fairests and a premiership later and Kennedy was part of the furniture.

This year he was eyeing a 300th game and a second flag. He injured his hamstring in Round 10 against Carlton then again in a VFL match against North Melbourne. Now the 300-game hopes are beyond reach but, as the Swans consolidated their top-four berth, Kennedy still had a shot at the flag.

But these dreams were dashed when he suffered another hamstring injury ahead of the preliminary final, officially ruling a line through his eminent career.

Kennedy’s last game, as it turned out, was as the unused medical sub in Round 20 against Greater Western Sydney.

(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

At Selwood’s own club, Shaun Higgins and Luke Dahlhaus aren’t as fortunate as their skipper.

Both mature-aged recruits, they made a name for themselves at other clubs and crossed to the Cattery because Geelong specialises in providing new homes for ageing stars in search of one last premiership run.

But Higgins was more a recurring guest star than part of the main cast, while Dahlhaus, after 61 games in three years at the Cats, fell down in the pecking order. Higgins’ last game came in Round 16 against his old club, North Melbourne, while for Dahlhaus it’s St Kilda in Round 21.

Neither know at the time that they have played their last games but the formidable Cats are too hard to break into.

In any season, there are these heartbreaks. Last year it was Nathan Jones, being dropped by the team that had depended on him for so long just as they finally achieved their destiny. Jack Steven, Brett Deledio and Bob Murphy are other examples of dismal ends to celebrated careers. These are heartbreaking stories but these are necessary to underscore what makes premiership success so special. Every one of these retiring players wishes they had Selwood’s finish to their career.

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