TROY SELWOOD would love nothing more than to present his parents with an almighty September dilemma – but for now he's looking no further ahead than Saturday and the Brisbane Lions' meeting with Hawthorn at the MCG.
Younger brother Joel will get his chance to push for finals action at top-of-the-table Geelong, while twin Adam (West Coast) is all but assured of a third straight year of finals participation.
Should Troy and the Lions continue the form that has seen them put together five straight wins, his parents – Bryce and Maree – might face some interesting logistical challenges with regards to their first weekend of finals watching.
Not that the prospect concerns Selwood at the moment.
"You could think of worse situations for them to be in," Selwood joked of the possibility his parents might have to attend three different games come the second week of September.
"But, honestly, when we (the Lions) say we aren't thinking about finals at the moment, we're being serious.
"We've got a massive month to come and we'd be kidding ourselves if we got that far ahead of ourselves.
"The next four sides we'll come up against are all final eight contenders and they are going to be really tough games for us."
Finals on the mind or not, things are certainly a lot more positive at the Gabba than they were six weeks ago.
Selwood is well-placed to comment on the joy delivered by the Lions' recent winning streak, having had his start to the season delayed until round 8 because of off-season back surgery.
The 23-year-old's first six appearances for the year delivered five losses and a draw and it wasn't until Round 14 – ironically against Adam and the Eagles – that he was able to belt out the team song.
The Lions rounded out 2006 with six successive defeats, meaning the likeable tagger-turned-defender had gone the best part of a calendar year without a victory celebration.
"You'd love to know exactly what changed for us, because it would be great to bottle it," Troy said.
"But I think things really turned around from the mid-season season break. Leigh (Matthews) looked at ways to up the ante with training and put us in more match situations where we had to execute our skills under pressure.
"We started doing that in the two weeks around the break and if you go back over the last five weeks and also the last quarter of the Port Adelaide game (in Round 13), we've really started backing ourselves.
"As an example, Jared Brennan has been phenomenal in the last few weeks. But it's no surprise to anyone who has watched him in training that he's been playing good footy, because he's been pushing himself so hard on the track."
Previously known as a close-checking run-with midfielder, Selwood himself has enjoyed a re-birth of sorts during the past five weeks by moving into defence.
The benefits of his shift have been two-fold: Jed Adcock has been released to take up a permanent midfield role, while Selwood has taken his stopping form with him, beating, among others, Melbourne livewire Aaron Davey.
"I have to admit that it was a bit nerve-wracking when I first went down there and you definitely have to get your angles right," he said.
"The rest of the opposition forwards might push up the ground, leaving you one-out with your opponent inside the forward 50m and you start to think that if things don't go your way here, you could end up looking a bit silly.
"But the other guys down there have been fantastic. We've got a really young back six and we're all learning the ropes together, but blokes like Jason Roe and Daniel Merrett have been terrific with the support and talk they've given me."
Younger brother Joel will get his chance to push for finals action at top-of-the-table Geelong, while twin Adam (West Coast) is all but assured of a third straight year of finals participation.
Should Troy and the Lions continue the form that has seen them put together five straight wins, his parents – Bryce and Maree – might face some interesting logistical challenges with regards to their first weekend of finals watching.
Not that the prospect concerns Selwood at the moment.
"You could think of worse situations for them to be in," Selwood joked of the possibility his parents might have to attend three different games come the second week of September.
"But, honestly, when we (the Lions) say we aren't thinking about finals at the moment, we're being serious.
"We've got a massive month to come and we'd be kidding ourselves if we got that far ahead of ourselves.
"The next four sides we'll come up against are all final eight contenders and they are going to be really tough games for us."
Finals on the mind or not, things are certainly a lot more positive at the Gabba than they were six weeks ago.
Selwood is well-placed to comment on the joy delivered by the Lions' recent winning streak, having had his start to the season delayed until round 8 because of off-season back surgery.
The 23-year-old's first six appearances for the year delivered five losses and a draw and it wasn't until Round 14 – ironically against Adam and the Eagles – that he was able to belt out the team song.
The Lions rounded out 2006 with six successive defeats, meaning the likeable tagger-turned-defender had gone the best part of a calendar year without a victory celebration.
"You'd love to know exactly what changed for us, because it would be great to bottle it," Troy said.
"But I think things really turned around from the mid-season season break. Leigh (Matthews) looked at ways to up the ante with training and put us in more match situations where we had to execute our skills under pressure.
"We started doing that in the two weeks around the break and if you go back over the last five weeks and also the last quarter of the Port Adelaide game (in Round 13), we've really started backing ourselves.
"As an example, Jared Brennan has been phenomenal in the last few weeks. But it's no surprise to anyone who has watched him in training that he's been playing good footy, because he's been pushing himself so hard on the track."
Previously known as a close-checking run-with midfielder, Selwood himself has enjoyed a re-birth of sorts during the past five weeks by moving into defence.
The benefits of his shift have been two-fold: Jed Adcock has been released to take up a permanent midfield role, while Selwood has taken his stopping form with him, beating, among others, Melbourne livewire Aaron Davey.
"I have to admit that it was a bit nerve-wracking when I first went down there and you definitely have to get your angles right," he said.
"The rest of the opposition forwards might push up the ground, leaving you one-out with your opponent inside the forward 50m and you start to think that if things don't go your way here, you could end up looking a bit silly.
"But the other guys down there have been fantastic. We've got a really young back six and we're all learning the ropes together, but blokes like Jason Roe and Daniel Merrett have been terrific with the support and talk they've given me."
