Geelong Cats legend and the longest serving captain in AFL history Joel Selwood has released his new autobiography All In this week.
The book serves as a retrospective of Selwood’s life and career, the highs as well as the many challenges, including the serious knee injury he struggled with as a young player and the impact of COVID-19.
Selwood said writing All In, with the assistance of Peter Ryan, had been helpful as he adapted to life after football.
“I didn’t know that it would be, but definitely, reflecting on my career and the things that have gone into it and the people that I’ve worked with along the journey, it actually felt really nice to write the book,” he said.
The memoirs also tell the highly personal story of the quest he and his wife Brit undertook to have a child.
Selwood said he and Brit had to make a decision whether to include the details of their IVF journey, but had eventually decided it was “important to share”.
“We weren’t sure if we were going to at one stage, but then if we were going to tell the whole book – and by the heading you can probably tell – we were all in,” he said.
“To be honest, it was good to reflect for myself and Brit. It was so tough to write. We probably wrote it three times, and in the end, we’ve got Brit’s help to make sure that she’s got her say in the book, because it was so personal and it tells the full story.
“We hope it can help others too, give hope to those that are doing it pretty hard. We’re fortunate we’re on the other side now with baby Joey and loving that life.”