Garry Bryan coached Joel Selwood in the under-15s at the Kennington-Sandhurst Junior Football Club.

Here are his recollections of the Cats' skipper as a junior …

"My first recollection of Joel is from the time my son Cameron came home from a Kennington-Sandhurst registration night and announced, in a very confident manner, that his team was going to win the flag. 'Why?' I asked him. He replied, 'We have Joel Selwood.'

"Tagging has always been something that Joel has had to deal with. One day in the under-13s at Dower Park, Kangaroo Flat, I recall three boys trying to run with him at the one time. There was one boy either side of him, while the third was hanging onto his shorts, trying to keep up. It was rather comical to watch.

"In my experience, junior footballers often try to dispose of the ball as soon as they can. But this was not how Joel played. He always did something with the ball to the team’s advantage. His skills, using his hands and feet on both sides of his body, were exceptional.

"Joel showed maturity well beyond his years. At under-15 level, we had a very strong team that went on to win a flag. Within the team there were a range of skill-sets. When Joel was delivering the ball to the likes of Coghlan, Bouch or Holmes, the ball would be delivered at chest height, hard and lace-out, as these guys had the ability to mark such a pass. When delivering to others that did not have the same skill-set, he would float the ball to give them every opportunity to mark the ball.

"He was a team player and shared the ball with all members of the team no matter what their skill-set.

"He played a lot of representative football, and despite his commitments with the various Victorian schoolboys' sides he always made a point of getting to club training and being around the boys. Leadership was part of his makeup from a very early age.

"Fame and fortune have not changed the man. He remains very generous with his time no matter the circumstances."