Selwood named Cats skipper

Three-time premiership midfielder Joel Selwood has been named the new Geelong captain with 2011 Grand Final Norm Smith Medallist Jimmy Bartel named as the club’s vice-captain.

Selwood, 23 was selected by his fellow team-mates to take up the reigns vacated by the retired Cameron Ling and will lead the reigning premiers into their premiership defense in season 2012.

Defender’s Harry Taylor and Corey Enright as well as veterans Joel Corey, James Kelly and Steve Johnson make up the other members of the leadership group with Johnson the newest member of the crew.

The 23-year-old who has already played 114 games for the Cats since his debut five years ago said he was excited and looking forward to the challenge of leading the competition’s second oldest club into this season.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Selwood following the club announced that last year’s vice-captain was the new skipper in the Captains’ Room at Simonds Stadium on Friday afternoon.

“This is the football club that I loved as a kid. I grew up barracking for the football club.”

“It’s over 150 years old, it’s a proud football club, and it’s in a really good position at the moment and I want to continue to make it that way.”

The seven-member leadership group was selected by the club players, coaching staff and football department managers.

After the final nominations came in all seven members of the leadership group was asked to put forward it’s nomination for captain which took place on Thursday.

That recommendation was then put forward to the club’s hierarchy which ratified the decision to nominate Selwood as there new captain.

“It was pretty easy,” Bartel, also a three-time premiership player commented at the media conference. “Since [Joel] walked into the club he had captain written all over him.”

“That goes to all areas: the way he handles himself amongst the group and everybody else in the club through to the professionalism in the way he prepares to play.”

“We all know how much of leader he is on the field, how he attacks the game.”

“He’s just got credibility written all over him in every area, so it was pretty easy for the rest of us to pick Joel as captain.”

Selwood who was selected with pick seven in the 2006 National Draft has played under two premiership captains at the club in Tom Harley and Ling and is determined to emulate the feats of those two.

“They’re probably two of the best captains that the football club has ever had,” exclaimed Selwood.

“There is pressure to stand up to what those guys have done, but we look forward to the challenge as a group, to see what we can do.”

“It’s funny coming off a premiership and then having to announce a new captain, but we’ve had to do it twice now and we look forward to what’s going to happen.”

“I’m probably going to be a captain that’s going to be a sponge over the next couple of years while I’ve got these experienced blokes around me, and the other people at the football club.”

“We’ve got great leadership from above, with people like [president] Colin Carter, [chief executive] Brian Cook, [football department bosses] Neil Balme and Steve Hocking and all the coaches.”