Costello took aim at AFL players in his regular column in The Age newspaper on Wednesday, describing them as "working on the brand" when they took part in club-organised school visits.
In the wake of the scandal that rocked St Kilda over the summer, Costello went on to claim "any right-thinking parent would quake with fear to hear that footballers were coming to their daughter's school to give a little bit of inspiration".
Selwood responded via his Twitter account: "Save yourself some time today and don't read Costello's rubbish is the paper! He's got no idea!"
Other footballers have also used Twitter to respond with Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell tweeting: "Love to see the community work Costello has done in his lifetime. Made an absolute fool of himself!"
Maxwell's teammate Harry O'Brien said: "Peter Costello should be more like his brother Tim who is cool & does better work for society.
"Peter Costello you seem so out of touch with this generation. You had your time in the sun... All AFL players can do is continue to be proactive in the community. The vast majority [is] positive. The media does not do us any favors."
Former Magpie and Gold Coast player Josh Fraser said: "Wonder if Peter Costello has ever seen the smile on a kids face when an AFL player turns up to do a clinic? What a goose."
Carlton's Brock McLean also weighed in:"How much work have you done in the community Peter?? You're so out of touch... AFL players are doing great things in the community!!"
Fremantle defender Paul Duffield said having former West Coast champion Dean Kemp visit his school in south-west WA was one of the greatest thrills of his life, and having a positive impact on kids was his motivation for visiting schools as an AFL player.
The 25-year-old, who visited East Kalgoorlie Primary School on Wednesday as part of Fremantle's community camp, said Costello's comments were unfair.
"It's certainly untimely, with the fact a lot of people are at community camps all around Australia right now giving some of their time to give back to communities," Duffield said.
"If I relate it back to my experience when I was younger, it was one of the really important things that I got to do.
"I hope that we can have a really positive impact on kids all around Australia right now and get them, if they're not on the right track, on the right track."
Adelaide coach Neil Craig said Costello was guilty of generalisation.
"I can understand Peter questioning it in the wake of what's in the media at the moment currently [involving] St Kilda, but it could be any club," he said.
"What I would ask Peter to do is respect the situation - it's only very few players in a total of 640, or more in the next couple of years.
"It would be similar to me tarring all politicians with the same brush.
"I would welcome Peter to come out to a community camp and see the effect an AFL club can have on a regional community and then see if his comments are still valid."
Smorgon said he was disappointed Costello would choose to question the motives of charitable work that was carried out by Essendon players while he was the No.1 ticket holder at the club.
"I think Peter is way out of line with this one," Smorgon told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
"Peter was the No. 1 man at Essendon for a number of years. He obviously hasn't been made aware of the enormous influence and impact League footballers have when they visited the schools.
"He has overlooked the greater majority of players who do the right thing and the impact they have when they visit the schools, when they visit elderly people and when they're out there representing their club and themselves to the wider community."
AFL Players Association chief executive Matt Finnis leapt to the defence of his members on Melbourne radio station SEN.
"I think some of the accusations or the themes that are running through that article are really disappointing," Finnis said.
"I think the reality is that when players go to schools or to Auskick centres, they're going there because there are young people all over Australia who are wanting to play AFL football and what they want to do is meet their heroes.
"They want to engage with them and I think one of the strengths of our game is the ability of the public to engage with our players and for young kids to do that.
"I think that to question the motives of players engaged in that kind of activity is really disappointing."
While outraged by the article, Finnis said the AFLPA would not be looking to take the matter further.
"I'm not sure that Peter holds any position of relevant responsibility in terms of government policy," he said.
"So I'm not sure to what extent we need to try and respond through formal channels apart from making sure that people understand that what the players do is done for the right reasons."
