AFL commentator Dwayne Russell has offered a response to Cats skipper Joel Selwood’s “stern” comments on the media’s role in the boos he receives on the field.
Selwood joined SEN’s Dwayne’s World on Thursday and was asked if he feels harshly done by both commentators and fans.
The 33-year-old has often received boos over his career, however the issue has heated up in 2022 to become a regular feature any time he touches the footy.
“You can’t please everyone,” Selwood said.
“I regularly listen to a few people that I obviously like to and I’m happy to share them with you, a Nathan Buckley or a Nick Riewoldt, those guys that are straight out of the game that call the game and call it for what it is, I think you also get a lot of feedback from them.
“I’m guessing that you (Russell) are talking about the rules and head highs and all that, you get an understanding that they see it differently and they’ve been living in it for a long time.
“We would just appreciate it if everyone called it that way too.
“I think the commentators, from what we understand, you get a briefing at the start of the year and I think there’s a consistency to probably just have to go with that commentary. I’m not talking about you personally Dwayne, I think across the board there’s a number of people.”
Selwood also added that booing was an “ugly part of sport” saying he would be surprised if many people didn’t agree.
Speaking about the conversation again on Friday, Russell – who commentates several matches every round for both AFL Nation and Fox Footy - believes Selwood is unimpressed with the media’s influence on the crowd’s response to him.
“He was fairly stern with me, I think, but I know Joel a bit and I think he was stern with me, kind of saying, ‘well, you guys in the media could support us ball getters a bit more than you do’,” Russell said.
“He, I think, feels that some people in the media want to rev up (the narrative of), ‘oh, that’s high, oh, he ducked’ scenario.
“So it was good to hear him not necessarily try to put me back in my place, but give a perspective from him.
“But to call booing the ugly side of sport was an interesting acceleration of that whole debate.
“To hear Joel Selwood say that it doesn’t affect him but it affects his family, and he doesn’t really like it for their aspect, it was interesting to hear, it was nice to have a chat with him.”
Selwood recently broke the record for the most games as captain in VFL/AFL history, however the Cats have demonstrated a tendency to rest their three-time premiership star more in 2022.