FEW PEOPLE outside his immediate family know Geelong skipper Joel Selwood better than John Leyden.
These days Leyden comes across Selwood on a regular basis in his role as the rehabilitation coordinator at the Cats.
But the pair first crossed paths in Bendigo's under-12s footy competition.
"I was playing for Strathfieldsaye and he was playing for St Therese's," Leyden recalled.
"It was well known back then that he was an up and coming gun, so we used to dread those St Theresa's games.
"They won the flag every year, and they were pretty much a one-man show.
"Joel used to dominate. He used to kick seven or eight goals from the midfield."
Even then, Selwood was someone who hated losing a single contest during a game.
He also liked to make sure the opposition knew he meant business.
"Even as a 10- or 11-year-old, he was such a competitive beast," Leyden said. "In one game, he put me down in a tackle and stood on my head as he got up.
"Nowadays we have a bit of a joke about that."
Despite that incident, Leyden and Selwood became close friends.
And when Leyden moved to Geelong for university, he ended up sharing a house with Selwood and another of their mates from Bendigo, Brock Bouch.
"Joel owned the house, and he was a good landlord," Leyden said. "He was a bit of a father-figure for us.
"But there were times when it was like living with your parents. If I went out late with others from uni I had to creep back into the house.
"You didn't want to wake Joel if he had to train or play the next day."
Selwood might be the kind of bloke who appears to be good at everything, and that's certainly the case when it comes to many sports.
"He likes to remind us about his one and only cricket match, which was in the under-15s," Leyden said. "You had to retire if you got to 75, and he made 75 and retired."
But Leyden and Bouch know that Selwood does have the odd weakness.
"Seeing his development in the kitchen over time has been interesting," Leyden chuckled.
"He was a stinker of a cook and he's probably just got himself up to being barely acceptable. That's been good to see.
"His favourite dish in my time living with him was his mum's chicken pie. Maree always cooks him up bulk frozen food and sends it down to him.
"He heats it up and does a salad with red onion. That's his trademark dish, the red onion salad."
However, one of Selwood's great strengths is his generosity.
"He's had Asics as a sponsor for a long time, and if he ever got a pair of runners that were a stinker of a colour he'd palm them off to me or Brock," Leyden explained.
"As a uni student, you don't knock those things back. Joel did a lot of stuff like that for us."
Another of Selwood's key attributes is his professionalism.
"If the Cats played a night game in Melbourne or Geelong, he wouldn't get home until 3am," Leyden said. "He'd be in the water at the beach or back at the club.
"On the days after games he'd sit on the couch with ice-packs all over him.
"Part of our role as his housemates was helping out with the ice-packs. We'd do ice runs and help wrap him up in gladwrap.
"I used to work at a pub and I often got a call to pick up a bag of ice from work or from a servo on the way home.
"He puts so much work into his recovery because he never wants to miss a training session. He doesn't like missing out on anything.
"And when you play like him, like a human battering ram, you're always copping knocks."
Leyden will watch on with pride when Selwood notches his 200th AFL game in Saturday's night's big clash with the Sydney Swans at Simonds Stadium.
From Bendigo's under-12 league to footy's highest level, it has been some journey.
"Anyone that played with him, against him, or saw him play as a junior assumed that he would go on to a long AFL career, as he was clearly a lot more talented than everyone else his age," Leyden said.
"But he has also worked a lot harder than many others, and sacrificed a lot of things along the way, to dedicate himself to the career he was destined for.
"I think he has made everyone back home very proud."
