Former West Coast champions Ben Cousins and Chris Judd have paid tribute to former teammates Adam Selwood and Adam Hunter, 20 years after the quartet’s famous AFL premiership together.
In a rare reunion between the former Eagles captains, Cousins and Judd sat down with each other for 7NEWS to reflect on the memories of their 2006 flag, but conceded celebrations will never be the same with two empty seats at the table.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Ben Cousins and Chris Judd on the ‘hole in our heart’
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Selwood and Hunter both tragically passed away within three months of each other in 2025.
Hunter was found unresponsive in his Bunbury home, a few hours south of Perth, on February 5 last year. Coronial findings attributed his death to a drug-related heart failure, and he was posthumously diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Little more than three months later, Selwood was found dead during a welfare check at his house. Tragically, his passing followed the death of his twin brother Troy, who coincidentally died one day before Hunter.
Adam Selwood played 187 games for the Eagles between 2003 and 2013 and was a key member of the club’s back line during their consecutive grand final appearances in 2005 and 2006.
Hunter played 151 games for West Coast between 2000 and 2009, and was one of the game’s premier swingmen, including in the 2006 grand final, when he was swung forward and kicked a famous goal to give the Eagles a seven-point lead late in the game.
As the champion team celebrated its 20-year reunion this week, its two most decorated players agreed it will never be the same without their two mates, Selwood and Hunter.
“There will just be forever a hole in all our hearts that those two aren’t going to be here for the celebrations, but more importantly, for everything else in life,” Judd told Cousins.
“They were both just brilliant players in the team, incredibly important cogs — but more than that, just wonderful people.
“You speak about ‘Hunts’, his ability to go down back and then go forward and kick a goal in a tight game whenever you needed him to do it, and Adam Selwood played shutdown roles on some of the great half forwards in the competition week in and week out.
“I don’t think that sadness will ever leave for any of the guys who played with them and any of the people that knew them.
“But they will certainly be remembered by all of us in perpetuity, but specifically on occasions like this because they were very special people who won’t be forgotten.”
Cousins added: “Universally loved within the group.”
The 2006 Eagles, who beat Sydney by one point to lift the climb the mountain, met for an official function on Friday night before attending West Coast’s clash with Richmond on Saturday.
Reflecting on the moment he became a premiership player, Judd said it was “relief and exhaustion” that hit him first, having come off a four-point loss to the Swans in the 2005 decider the previous year.
“We were so close the year before, and it just takes so much energy and luck and hard work to get there,” he told Cousins.
“So, to get there the year before and then be part of another close game after another long season, for me, it was just complete exhaustion.
“The elation for me came sort of a week later, to be honest.
“I still remember the moment when I was sitting at my parents’ house back in Melbourne and just almost giggling to myself that we’d won a premiership. Until then, it was just relief and exhaustion.”
You can watch the full 7NEWS interview between Ben Cousins and Chris Judd in the video below
