I can't remember if i have posted this or not so forgive me if i've doubled up.

I was the biggest Selwood fan. I wanted him at Carlton so bad. In fact, had he been available in Murphy's draft, i would have chosen him over Marc.

Then, in Gibbs draft, even though Selwood had played but a few games, i STILL would have chosen him over Gibbs and i even mentioned that in these forums at the time.

Actually if i remember correctly, somebody told me back then that Selwoods knee was so bad that it was feared he might not even play again. Regardless, if the Club was to pick a player who hadn't played in 9 months with their #1 pick over the most chased player in the draft in Gibbs, there would have been a massive shit storm.

Having said that.................... even though i'm still massive Selwood fan, i couldn't behgin to imagine NOT having Gibbs or Murphy in the Navy Blue.

And to be totally honest, i can't pick them apart in terms of who's better.


Looking at their stats alone:-

09'

Selwood
20 games / Avg 28.1 dissposals / 9 games / 101 tackles.

Murphy
20 games / 25.3 dissposals / 28 goals / 81 tackles.

Gibbs
20 games / 26.3 dissposals / 13 goals / 82 tackles.


.................................reall, the only thing that seperates them all is Goals & Tackles, but i feel Murphy has been pushed to go forward this year whilst Selwood has clearly been given the task of creating preasure in the centre which he does so god-damn well too (such is evident by his tackle count).


All three will be superstars of the game. Selwood however, is probably already there - but this is also thanks to being in a superstar team along side Bartell, Ablett etc etc etc.


But like i said, depsite me being the avid Selwood fan, i wouldn't even dream about swaping him for Gibbs or Murphy - not in a million years.

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

Selwood's definitely better than Murph and Gibbs, as of season 2009. But then, he's better than just about anyone else in the entire competition.

The question really is: how will his knee hold up when he's 25/26/27? From everything I've read on his condition, there's a very real chance that you'll get an extra hundred games out of a Murph/Gibbs.

So at the end of their careers, maybe it evens up, or our two surpass him. But right now, Selwood's got them covered.

But really, who cares? It's the clubs who had picks between Gibbs and Selwood who should be wearing sackcloth and whipping themselves with birch sticks. I'm very happy with Gibbs, very happy.

At present he hasn't got Gibbs covered by all that much!

I wouldn't exchange Gibbs for all the tea in China...or India ....or ceylon....
He is an OUTSTANDING and amazing player and person..who,will surely,eventually be our fine Captain.....and....is only just BEGINNING his illustrious career.
bravo young Bryce.

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That’s not a political statement — it’s a harsh reality, and we must act,” she said. “He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”

I just hope we can keep him.
With Goodwin, McClead, Edwards about to retire from the crows soon its might make our task very difficult!

Would be interesting to see how Selwood would have gone if had been playing in a bottom side and not surrounded by Ablett and Bartel.

When he is about 25 years of age you will find out.

Within 5 years time Geelong will be on the elvator down and those blokes will be close to gone.

He could still be a gun or he could be like Daniel Kerr.

...smacked up to his eyeballs on ketamine outside of Smorgies?

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STURDYISM!!

Firstly, Gibbs will not go home to Adelaide. Loves it at Carlton, is a very loyal player and has recently had his girlfriend move over to Melbourne to be with him. I can guarantee that Gibbs will be at Carlton for the rest of his career.

Secondly, its so hard to compare these players. Murphy is dealing with a tag each week, Selwood isn't. Gibbs has played a lot of footy in the backline, Selwood hasn't. Not trying to say that Selwood isn't a very, very good player, but I still wouldn't take him above Murphy or Gibbs - even at the moment.

selwood is over rated

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

You have got to be kidding if you can call Dane Swan elite !!!!!!!!!!!!!

The guy has had 1 good season and even then he turns the ball over more often than Shehan changes his opnion.

I would have Black, Goodes and Mitchell before I even considered Swan.

well then maybe you should take off your navy blue glasses and have another look. the bloke has been the best player in the comp this year, won the pies b&f last year and had 21 brownlow votes the year before but let's not hijack thsi thread with a different topic.

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Last edited by true_blue3 on Mon Sep 26, 1981 5:07 pm; edited 92 times in total

Wow so you not only think Selwood is better now but you also dismiss Murph and Gibbs' chances of surpassing him with improvement, stating the only way they'll be better is by longevity in the game? I think you're crazy, Selwood has been playing in the strongest team in the comp., it's much easier for him to have the impact he has had compared with Murph and gibbs who have been playing in a middle of the road team yet dominating just as much. I think in a year, both will have surpassed him.
Joel Selwood is NOT in the top 10 players in the competition IMO.

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You want the flame? Give us the marbles!!

Swan is fairly low in the tackle stakes, doesn't burst run, chase opponents down, and I think this is for a reason, he would then have the energy to out run and out position his opponents for the duration of a game, making his role fairly important. Does this make him elite? Yes and no.

The topic of elite players, it's always going to be subjective and therefore I'll say there is only one truly elite player, Chris Judd. He has stood the test of time and has been a top 5 player since he won the Brownlow back in 2004. Everyone else is up for debate.

Without using the word elite, I think Selwood is a top 10-15 player. He's got great energy to tackle the way he does, win the ball and keep presenting. He does this the entire game and has carried his team to victories because of this style of play. Selwood has been better than Gibbs these past three season and I believe Selwood's qualities outweigh Gibbs' qualities at the minute, but the important thing is that the gap between Selwood and Gibbs is closing from week to week. If this trend continues, Gibbs qualities would over take Joel Selwood's in due course, for which it would be hard for the latter to re take the lead, such is the upside to Gibbs' ability. Think Voss and Hird, Ball and Hodge, they all ran pretty close races but IMO the latter of each pair overtook the former because they simply had/have more to offer.

by Nathan Buckley only. He is a great footballer.

Sure, Selwood walked into a strong side. But he did so and immediately became not just a fringe player, nor an important part of that side, but one of THE most important parts. He provides grunt, skill and leadership. Murphy and Gibbs have both played like elite young players, getting better all the time. But Selwood played like an elite seasoned player from day one.

That's incredibly rare... Geoff Southby-esque. Fair dinkum, if he played for us we'd have him down as an all-time AFL great by the time he retired.

Who's to say what'll happen: all that's certain is that we've got a lot of great football to come from all three of them, and two of them are in the navy blue.

And I'm not saying the ONLY way for a Gibbs to surpass him is for a degenerative knee to curtail Selwood's career. What I am saying is that if you look objectively as their careers, and you assume they'll both continue on their current trajectory of improvement, I don't see how you can dismiss Selwood's claims to being the best of the lot.

That's no slight on murph or Gibbs. Put SOS, Southby and Doull in a room and one of them has to be ranked third best - but they're all absolute guns.

What Gibbs has over Selwood is football smarts, he may just be the smartest player to ever play, he's just as skillful if not more, over time will be just as hard and just has so much more upside it's hard to judge just how good Bryce will be at the age of 24. That is four years away. I'm tipping he'll miles ahead of Selwood by then.

Mark Murphy is a different type of player than both, he is more gut run and brilliant disposal. Selwood will never have what Murph has in terms of run (neither will Gibbs), that's why I think Murph will be the better player (than Selwood).

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You want the flame? Give us the marbles!!

Hey, I'm not saying he is rubbish. He is right up there as A grade talent, but you are clearly watering down the value of elite if you were to put him above Black, Goodes and a few others.

And yes he did get 20 votes in 2007 (12 in 2008) but he was the only Collingwood player to get the umps attention in a team that just went down to Geelon in the prelim final.

For mine Elite is reserved for players that can make a game their own and do it consitantly enough over at least 4-5 years. Swan still has a few years to go at his current level to be in that company as does Selwood, Gibbs and Murphy.

For the record players that I would call elite in the comp today would be Ablett, Judd, Black, Brown, Mitchell, Goodes, Cox, Fev, Lloyd, Fletcher, Scarlett, Cousins, Pavlich, Rievwolt and Akermanis. There may be more that I can't think of at the moment and some are on my list even if they've dropped off late in their careers.

This is Ablett's 3rd year of top line dominant football: so not elite?

FWIW Paul Chapman is elite in my books

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