GEELONG captain Joel Selwood has been held back from the start of pre-season training after revealing he played the last month of the season under duress.

Selwood yesterday admitted his “whole body” was just about shot when he willed himself to play in the Cats’ final match against Adelaide to honour the club’s three outgoing champions.

The fearless 27-year-old has been on light duties in the club’s rehab group since returning from the longest off-season break of his 204-game career.

The Cats hope the lay-off will rejuvenate their three-time best-and-fairest winner after one of the more demanding seasons of his career leading a midfield thin on depth.

“I had little niggles throughout the whole season and then they just got gradually bigger and bigger,” Selwood told the Geelong Advertiser yesterday as a Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon ambassador.

“I was able to finish out the season, that was important.

“We only didn’t really play for points in that last game but it was also important to get out there for the last game for a few mates (Steve Johnson, James Kelly, Mathew Stokes) who are no longer with us.”

Asked what injuries he was suffering, Selwood said: “the whole body. It’s just about recovering now. I’ve had a fair bit of time off, hit the re-set button and ready to go again.”

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Selwood hopes to ramp up his training next week when coach Chris Scott returns to the club after completing a leadership education course at Harvard Business School.

media_camera Jaimie Renshaw, Aoife Stynes, Geelong captain Joel Selwood, Fred Blackall and Ella Colquhoun at a Weet-Bix TRYathlon launch. Picture: Peter Ristevski

“I’ve just got a little period where I’ll just start a little bit later than the boys,” Selwood said.

“Obviously with the heavy loads over the last couple of years, the guys are just holding me back, just that little bit.

“The coach comes back next week and hopefully I can join back in.”

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The recruitment of Paddy Dangerfield and Scott Selwood, along with the continued development of Cam Guthrie and Josh Caddy, will offset the demands on Selwood.

Geelong chief executive Brian Cook recently admitted Selwood appeared to limp to the season’s finish line.

“I tend to think Joel has looked so tired by the end of the year because of the workload he has taken up through the year. In the last four or five games, he just looked absolutely buggered,” Cook said.