Mid-week Musings: Tagger Extraodinaire Selwood, Born Again Forward Nicoski Call it Quits

I always feel rather sad when players retire. I know it's not like they're dead or anything and they're still young men with careers in other fields to pursue. But it's still a moment of reflection on what they did for the club, which brings up memories of good times and bad.

Firstly, there's Adam Selwood. At his peak during the middle to late part of last decade, he was the embodiment of everything a great tagger should be; hard, courageous, tough, tireless. Or in other words: a complete pain in the arse. I mean that in a good way.  His work ethic and his desire to win is reflected in the youtube results you get when you type in his name. Essentially, there's plenty of opposition supporters complaining about him or celebrating him getting flattened. They hated the guy. And that's why we love him. It's perhaps fitting that one of his final moments, or most memorable from this season anyway, was winning the free kick to set up the Nic Nat winning goal against the Roos. He wasn't all that talented, but man did he get the most out of himself and it was us as fans who benefited. Perhaps he should've called it quits earlier, but hindsight is perfect.

 

Then there is Mark Nicoski. There's a little bit of a tinge of sadness related to this one. He was the utility with the penetrating left boot during his early years (not always applied perfectly mind you). He played in the losing 2005 Grand Final, only to miss out in the winning 2006 flag. I seem to recall Nico coming onto the ground at the end of the GF to celebrate. It was just bad luck. He then went through a bad patch, as did the team, towards the end of last decade before his really notable and quite simply astounding 2011. Worsfold said it was one of the best seasons by a small forward in the club's history. That may be stretching it, given the existence of Matera and Lecras, but it was special. He kicked 41 goals, including 6 against the Tigers. He was a part of that incredible resurgence from wooden spoon to preliminary final. But alas, injuries over the past 2 seasons has meant he hasn't played a single game since.

Both players will be remembered by fans for their toughness, tenacity and team spirit. Thanks for the memories.