How did a Birregurra superfan become part of one of Australian football’s most iconic moments?
Vision of retired Geelong champion Joel Selwood pulling the Cats’ waterboy Sam Moorfoot onto the MCG to join in the celebrations went viral after Geelong’s AFL grand final win over the Sydney Swans.
Sam, who has become a cult figure at Geelong, has come a long way since his days of cheering over the fence whenever the Birregurra Saints, including his brother and Birre premiership player Jack, kicked a goal.
Jack spoke to the Colac Herald about Sam’s rise to stardom and what the Geelong footy club, in particular Joel Selwood, had meant to his little brother.
THE EARLY DAYS
Jack says the Moorfoot family was like any other sports-crazed family growing up.
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Where To BuyAll the Moorfoots played their fair share of sport, and Sam, despite having Down syndrome, was no different.
“He’s pretty passionate about his footy, and sport in general,” Jack said.
“He’s always been involved growing up with our sport, but also his own, he’s had a crack at footy, basketball, netball, he lives a pretty active lifestyle, Sammy,” he said.
“He’s always been pretty passionate about the Cats.”
Their parents Dale and Lindy signed them up as Geelong members early on.
It sparked a passion that led Sam to join the AFL club as a volunteer seven years ago.
“We’re all Cats fans,” Jack said.
“We’ve been going to the footy since we were kids, we’re all members; Mum and Dad, Tom, Sam and I, our uncles and cousins, we’ve all got seats in the Brownlow Stand.
“Sam started volunteering at the old Cats bistro back in 2015.
“Initially it was Troy Selwood who got him involved in the footy department, and over the years he’s made some strong relationships with the players.”
Jack said Sam, 29, loved his role with the Cats, which involved numerous duties outside of wheeling around the water trolley.
He said he was rapt for his younger brother when he first started with the role, but he certainly hadn’t expected the Cats’ AFL players to embrace Sam as they have.
“Sam spends a day or two a week there, doing the water trolley and other things,” he said.
“It’s great for him, he really enjoys it and the players love it too.
“I’d imagine being an AFL player could get quite stressful, but Sam’s great, he gives people a lot of support and he keeps them grounded.”
STRONG BONDS
Joel Selwood sent Sam an emotional video message on Wednesday morning to let him know personally that he was retiring before that afternoon’s press conference.
Tom Hawkins rang Sam afterwards to make sure he was okay.
Jack said he’d seen those kinds of acts of kindness for years now.
Jack said the relationship that Sam had created with the Geelong players was reminiscent of the relationship that the three Moorfoot brothers have.
“They’re really good to him, I’ve seen it first hand with not only Joel, but Tom Hawkins; Tom picks him up and takes him to trainings,” he said.
“They treat him the way Tom and I did growing up, a lot of banter, hang a bit of shit, but they genuinely care for him which is nice.
“The moment with Joel bringing Sammy over the fence (after the grand final) got a lot of attention, but for us it was just cool to see Joel get recognition for the stuff he does every day.”
Jack said all the Cats players had embraced Sam around the club, but the relationship his brother had with Joel was special.
Joel, who retired on Wednesday after 355 games and four premierships, endeared the footy world on Saturday, carrying Gary Ablett’s son Levi onto the MCG pre-game, giving his grand final boots to a young Auskicker, and then bringing Sam over the fence to join in the celebrations.
“Sam’s pretty close with the whole Selwood family, really, even (mum) Maree,” Jack said.
“But Joel’s been so good to him, since he got involved in the footy program, I can’t speak highly enough of him,” he said.
“I’m glad the rest of the footy world is seeing what a good bloke he is, because we’ve known for quite a while.”
THAT ICONIC MOMENT
Jack says his family got quite a shock when they saw Sam on the ground after the Cats’ 81-point grand final win over the Swans.
Jack said he and his brother Tom had missed out on tickets in the ballot, so had watched the game in the standing room on the other side of the ground from Sam and their parents.
“After the game we made our way around to meet up with them, about the time Joel had made his way around,” Jack recalled.
“We caught up with Mum and Dad and said ‘where’s Sam?’, he usually goes down to the fence and gives the players a hug, and I thought ‘oh yeah, he’s just doing his usual thing’.
“But we look up, see the number 14 and think ‘shit, he’s out on the ground’.
“It was pretty cool to see that.”
A story emerged during the week that Joel had called Lindy Moorfoot to let her know that Sam could continue on celebrating with the Cats.
“I was there with Mum, and as mentioned in the Sunrise interview, Joel rang Mum and said ‘we’ve got him, we’ll bring him in the rooms and he can come back to Geelong with us on the bus’,” Jack said.
“I didn’t see Sam until late that night, he was just so happy.
“It’s funny, he gets a lot of media attention, it’s a bit surreal, but we’re just glad he’s happy.
“He just loves doing what he’s doing, hopefully he can do it for a while yet.”