GEELONG midfielder Scott Selwood concedes he's in a race against time for round one after a faultless pre-season was offset by recent hamstring tightness.

Selwood sat out his second consecutive JLT Series match against Essendon on Thursday night with a view to playing in next Friday's VFL practice match against Werribee.

With that clash scheduled for seven days before the AFL season opener against Collingwood, the 28-year-old is in a fight to win his spot and force his way into Chris Scott's line-up.

"At this stage I'll try and play majority of minutes (in the VFL) but if my physio's reading this he's going to crack it because we haven't had that discussion yet," Selwood said.

I had tightness in my hamstrings, but it was in both sides which made it more of a good thing rather than a bad thing because you're able to back off the workload. - S Selwood

"I'm probably not as focused about that at the moment (round one selection).

"I'm enjoying being fit and trying to play my best footy while I'm fit, whether (that's) round one or whether a couple of rounds in, I'm not too stressed about that at the moment.

"I think we've got some really good young guys that played really well last week (against West Coast) that are fighting for a spot.

"It's important we reward those guys that are in form and make sure that's how we build our culture that you work hard, you play well, and you get rewarded.

"If I need to work hard and go about it that way I'm comfortable with that."

Selwood added that it was the "most excited I've been for a footy season in a long time" after surgery had hampered recent summer campaigns.

The former Eagle is yet to play a round one clash for Geelong, with his last season opener coming in his final season in the west in 2015.

Selwood was on hand for the launch of the 2019 Country Festival which the Cats will host with Essendon at the MCG in round seven.

A country player himself growing up in Bendigo, Selwood had flashbacks to his past when he joined Powercor ambassador Ben Moloney and Essendon great Kevin Sheedy at the press conference on Thursday night. 

"It was a little bit freaky, Benny Moloney and I played under-12 Vic together, Kevin Sheedy gave us our jumpers when we were in under 12s and it almost feels like a 20-year reunion," Selwood said.

Selwood and Sheedy were joined by Geelong club chief executive Brian Cook and his Essendon counterpart Xavier Campbell for the launch of the fourth annual match between the two sides.