Brendan Fevola reveals how his old housemate Troy Selwood saved him during a tough time before the star’s death aged 40
Footy great Brendan Fevola issued an emotional tribute to his close friend Troy Selwood after the former Brisbane Lions star tragically passed away on Tuesday, aged just 40.
Selwood enjoyed a distinguished career in the AFL, making 75 appearances for the Lions across a seven-year period.
He joined the club from Sandhurst as pick No 19 in the 2002 National Draft before being delisted in 2010.
Fevola moved to join the Lions ahead of the 2010 season and had lived with Selwood during his season at the club.
The Bendigo-born midfielder was a highly respected and loved figure around the AFL, with many from the footy world paying their respects to Selwood following the devastating news.
On Wednesday, Fevola fought back tears as he delivered an emotional tribute to his friend, Selwood.
‘Yesterday was a bit of a tough day, and I apologise for this morning, I’ve been a little bit off,’ Fevola said to Fox’s Fifi, Fev and Nick show.
Brendan Fevola (pictured) has issued a touching tribute to former Brisbane Lions star Troy Selwood who tragically passed away on Tuesday
Selwood (front) played alongside Fevola at the Brisbane Lions and the pair lived together during their time at the club
He said that Selwood (pictured) had helped him through a ‘tough’ period in his life
Seeing him grow more emotional fellow presenter Fiona Box stepped in.
She said: ‘You don’t have to talk about it… you don’t have to talk about [it].’
But Fevola continued: ‘I haven’t been myself, because I had a really close friend pass away yesterday.
‘I lived with him in Brisbane, and obviously, it’s in the news now, his name was Troy Selwood. Troy is a ripper.
‘I was going through a bit of a tough time when I was up in Brisbane, and he was sort of the bloke that was there for me, which meant a lot to me.
‘It’s just a real shock. Obviously, in the footy world, we can have this persona that we’re tough, that we can handle anything.
‘But we are human, and we don’t really speak about our feelings often. That’s not just in the footy world, but as men in general.
‘He’s got two young kids… it’s just really upsetting, shattering.
Fevola played for the Lions for one season in 2010 alongside Selwood. He lumped praise on his old team-mate saying: ‘He was one of the really good ones’
‘You think what could you have done, but you can’t do anything. It’s so hard.
‘You will hear stories about him, no one will say a bad word about him. He was one of the really good ones.
‘It’s just sad.’
Selwood is the twin brother of Premiership-winning West Coast Eagles star Adam, and is also the older sibling of former Geelong stars Joel and Scott.
Fevola also published a heartfelt tribute to Troy on his Instagram.
He captioned a picture of the former Brisbane player with the comment: ‘RIP Bunno. Thanks for being there for me when I was going through a tuff time.
‘Best housemate I’ve ever had. Love you mate. Sending all my love to Maree, Bryce the boys Tom and Sadie #25dickens’
Another of Selwood’s team-mates, Jonathan Brown, has paid tribute to the former Lions’ tagger and revealed how the club had landed on his nickname ‘Bunno’.
‘People ask him, how do you get Bunno? And he goes, the great thing about footy clubs is they give you nicknames,’ Brown said to Nova 100.
Fevola also published several tributes on his Instagram accounts. He captioned one of the images: ‘Thanks for being there for me when I was going through a tough time. Best hosuemate I’ve ever had. Love you mate’
‘Craig McRae, one of the funniest characters I played with, now the Collingwood coach said: “Well, Troy Selwood. He needs a nickname. Selwood. Where do you sell wood? Bunnings”.
‘That’s how he got Bunno and it stuck for the rest of his footy career.’
Brown paid homage to Selwood by revealing a humorous story of how the former tagger was nearly asked to leave his wedding.
‘He had a beautiful soul about him and including at the wedding, I think he might have nearly got kicked out of our wedding along with (Lions defender) Dan Merrett, who was his great mate,’ Brown said.
‘The boys were getting a bit carried away on the dancefloor. They thought they would put a trail of Crown lagers on the dancefloor to make a slip and slide, which the venue operator wasn’t too keen on.
‘(I said) ‘You can’t kick some of my best mates out of my own wedding.’ He loved life, he had a great smile and he was a very empathetic bloke as well. That is why teammates loved him and everyone in the footy club loved him and everyone he met loved him.’
Following his playing career, Selwood would continue to work in footy and devoted his time to bringing through the next crop of AFL stars.
He would work as a recruitment manager with Brisbane and Collingwood before joining up with Geelong Grammar as the school’s head of football.
The Selwood family revealed their devastation in a statement on Tuesday. Pictured left to right: Scott, Bryce, Brit, Joel, Maree, Troy and Adam Selwood
Following his playing career, Selwood would continue to work in footy and devoted his time to bringing through the next crop of AFL stars
Andy Allthorp, who coached the boy’s first team, lumped praise on the footy great.
‘His work ethic was second to none, as well as his attention to detail,’ Allthorpe said.
‘He believed in what we were doing and how we were trying to build the program across the board and the character of the people in it.
‘He had worked hard to develop a legacy around ‘pay it forward’ where the senior boys gave back to the rest of the program, whether helping out at the girl’s training or middle school.
‘He had great belief in all of the people at Grammar, as he was side-by-side with them through all their challenges and so proud of their achievements along the way.’
The AFL community was also rocked this week by the passing of Essendon’s VFL coach Dale Tapping on Tuesday and West Coast premiership-winning star, Adam Hunter on Wednesday.
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