In fact, aside from being an emergency for round one, Sellar hasn’t technically been dropped. Sure, he’s missed five matches since, but those have been on the comeback trail following injury.
Sellar missed round seven with a calf injury, and was an emergency the following week, before returning in round nine.
In rounds 15 and 16, he was again troubled by a calf injury and served a week as an emergency, before being brought back for Melbourne’s round 18 clash against North Melbourne.
Considering the versatile tall had played 21 matches in five seasons at Adelaide - and he was Melbourne’s third and final pick at last year’s NAB AFL Draft (No. 54 overall) - it’s been a strong return for both player and club in 2012.
“It’s been really good for me to get away from Adelaide. I was born and bred there, and sometimes it’s nice to see new horizons. The club has been fantastic and made me feel welcome, which has been really good, because they are a good bunch of guys,” Sellar told melbournefc.com.au.
“I’ve already made a lot of great friendships that I’m looking forward to expanding on, and personally my season has been solid. I think I’ve contributed in most games, but I need to keep improving as a player.
“I’m still relatively young - I’m 23 - and I’ve got my best football certainly ahead of me. I’m still working and growing like the playing group is.”
Despite relishing his move, Sellar said it took some time to settle into a new city.
“It’s been a little bit hard at times, adjusting to the hustle and bustle of Melbourne life,” he said.
“Adelaide is pretty quiet, and it’s easier living in Adelaide than Melbourne, so it’s taken a while to adjust to that. But in terms of the routine at a football club, it’s been pretty similar.
“The biggest adjustment has been the differences between the two cities.”
The versatile tall has played down back, up forward and pinch-hit in the ruck. But he has no doubt that his best form has been in defence this season.
“My skills set as a player allows me to play a bit more consistently down back, but one of my strengths as a player is my flexibility. I need to be flexible enough to be able to play both ends from week to week and quarter to quarter. Hopefully that’s one of the strengths I bring to the side,” he said.
“We’ve seen it a lot this year with Riv (Jared Rivers) and Garlo (Colin Garland) going forward. These days, it’s not very often that you can hold down one spot and go through the year [in one position]. Most guys need to be able to play two or three different spots.
“It’s definitely something I want to keep working on, particularly my forward line stuff - I’m not as natural there as I am down back. I’ll keep working with Leigh Brown on the skills that I’ve got down there.”
Originally a No. 14 selection from Glenelg in the 2006 NAB AFL Draft, Sellar thought his AFL career was over by the end of last season, before he gained a second chance with the Demons.
“It was really late [when Melbourne showed interest]. It was only a couple of days before the draft. To be honest, I’d borderline given up,” he said.
“We’d spoken to a lot of clubs with indifferent results, and I was doing a bit of labouring with a contract company in Adelaide. I did a bit of soul searching with my life going forward. But I definitely know I’ve got a lot more to offer in the AFL.”
Sellar was open and honest about how he felt when he received the news that his career was over at Adelaide.
“In terms of how it felt being delisted, it was pretty shattering really that someone tells you that you can’t keep going and living out your dream. And that someone has the right - and the position to be able to do that - I found that a bit hard to come to grips with,” he said.
“But that can be a strength for me going forward, because I know what it’s like and I definitely don’t want to have that feeling ever again. I can still remember being told at Adelaide and having the slow walk back out to my car, and having to call Mum and Dad to explain what was going on.
“I was pretty inconsolable for a few weeks, so hopefully that’s one thing I can pass on to the younger guys at Melbourne as well, because we are a young club.
“The likes of Brad Green, who has been around for 13 seasons - they’ll tell you how quickly your career goes. So it can go really quickly if you’ve only played five years and you’re 22 years old and you’re kicked out - that’s real quick.”
Interestingly, Sellar has spent most of his AFL career working with former Adelaide coach and now Melbourne director of sports performance Neil Craig. Although he didn’t play much under Craig at the Crows, Sellar said he had the utmost respect for him, and spoke highly of the experienced mentor.
“I’ve always had a good relationship with Neil. When I wasn’t in the side, he was always very open and honest about what he expected from me,” he said.
“I felt a lot of the games I played in Adelaide were similar to here where I’ve been able to contribute. But coaches don’t pick players - players pick players.
“It was a lot of my performances in the SANFL that at times didn’t warrant selection, and we had some pretty good sides at Adelaide in the last five years. But for one reason or another, I was out more than I was in. But I take all responsibility for my actions and outcomes.
“I get on with Neil fantastically well, and I feel that he’s great for advice and he’ll be great for our young group, because he’s got so much knowledge on elite performance and leadership. He works very closely with our leadership group and he’s going to be great for the Melbourne footy club.”
Now in his sixth AFL season, Sellar said he is starting to feel comfortable at the top level and he already feels more like a Demon than Crow.
“I probably felt more part of the Melbourne Football Club after a few months than I did in Adelaide after five years,” he said.
“The age of the group and where it’s at - it’s not a bad reflection of us as players. We’re on the verge of doing some really good things and we’re showing glimpses of getting that consistency into our games.
“It’s exciting to know that core group will grow and blossom together, and we’ve got a lot of good people in the right places - the two young captains are fantastic people, as are the leadership group and the coaches.
“While there is an understanding that it does take some time to get there, there is also a sense of urgency to make sure we get to where we want to as quick as we can. And age should be no barrier to that.”
Away from the game, Sellar has already turned his attention to life after football, given his experience at Adelaide.
“I was doing a real estate, financial services course earlier in the year. One thing you learn after being delisted once is that I never wanted to not [have options],” he said.
“I made a promise to myself on draft day that I’d have no regrets in terms of my player performances and contracts. And I never wanted to come out of football without a clear pathway - in terms of what I wanted to do.
“I’ve got that nutted out now, and another thing I learned was that I don’t look too far into the future. My contract runs out at the end of the year - I’ve got three more games to go and I’ll be doing everything in that time to make sure I make every post a winner and last as long as I can.”
