Despite his senior teammates not due back for another two weeks, Kelly, despite boasting three premiership medals, an All Australian and unrivalled respect from teammates as one of the club’s fiercest competitors in a career spanning 12 seasons and 233 games, was not about to rest on his laurels.
In fact he has something of a point to prove to those of the thought last season was the first sign of decline from the battle hardened Cat.
“I played some good footy and I played some very average footy at times,” Kelly said when asked to assess 2013.
After finishing 4th, equal 4th and 3rd in each of the past three best and fairest counts in the lead up to last season, Kelly failed to finish top 10 in 2013.
Usually a clearance machine, he mustered 73 after topping 100 in 2011 and 2012, while the one-percenter count dropped to 22 after totaling between 39 and 53 in each of the past six seasons.
It’s lucky then Kelly is not a stats man. In fact he subscribes to the theory stats are just tools used by those who don’t watch the game.
He says any regular Geelong watchers would have noticed something about certain performances last year that he felt within himself.
“I was pretty disappointed with my consistency throughout the year. Things like my defensive pressure was solid (led the club in tackles) but in terms of influencing games, that fluctuated a bit more than I would have liked,” he said.
For a player who prides himself on consistency Kelly pinpoints double hip surgery at the end of 2012 as a reason he was not able to replicate certain efforts on a continual basis, while adding it became tougher to recover the longer the season dragged on.
But in his eyes it was still unacceptable.
“I still played so I had a responsibility to play well and at times I didn’t do that,” he said.
With the memory of last year on both a personal and team level acting as a spur – the Cats went within a kick of making the Grand Final - the veteran ball winner has been one of the standouts over summer. He gathered 19-disposals and laid eight tackles in the NAB Challenge win over Collingwood.
While the club spruiks the young core as providing a foundation for its 2014 campaign, Kelly looks around the locker room and sees a group of hungry players whom he hopes do not hide behind the ‘young’ moniker.
It’s a theme he believes too often limits players and clubs from progressing their careers.
“It happens a lot throughout the whole AFL,” he said.
“Lots of clubs hide behind ‘we are a young side’ and when a group of players or a team looks at themselves differently and stops saying to themselves that they are young…its like they almost make an excuse before they make the mistake…but when they turn the corner and make a statement that’s when sides come into its own.”
For the Cats long list players three-to-six-year players including George Horlin-Smith, George Burbury, Jordan Schroder, Jordan Murdoch, Dawson Simpson, Mitch Brown, Allen Christensen, Mitch Duncan, Billie Smedts, Nathan Vardy, Jesse Stringer, Josh Caddy and Josh Cowan, Kelly says the time is now.
And with the end much closer than the beginning of a decorated career, Kelly says he has noticed a subtle change in own take on football.
“You’re more interested in others and you take more notice of things that are getting done because you want everything to be done properly,” he said.
“There’s not as much time to fix things if they’re not done properly.
“The good thing is that the kids that come into clubs these days are much better prepared now than when I came in.
“They know a lot more about lifestyle, weight training and all the stuff that I learned for the first time after I got here.
“And the culture is different now in terms of the professionalism but that is also driven by the fact even the kids are better prepared.”
While excited about the prospect of new-look side Kelly says little things remind him of times gone by.
“It’s times when you look over to Smithy’s (Joel Corey) locker and he’s not there is when you really notice it,” he said.
“Every now and then you think ‘oh, he’s not playing anymore is he’.
“Your friendship group dwindles a bit.”
From purely an on-field standpoint he rates the departures of Brad Ottens and Matthew Scarlett as having the profoundest impact, while personally the day Cameron Ling and Joel Corey walked out the door was a sad one for him given the bonds formed from years together around the football club.
Kelly enjoyed an overseas trip with Corey during the break and says both he and Ling have worked hard to retain a close bond since the former captain retired at the end of 2011.
Though leadership has not been a problem at the Cats since Tom Harley set a benchmark when he took over the mantle in 2007, Kelly has worked on developing his own brand as part of the Cats’ extended leadership group for the past four years.
The Cats are yet to announce their leadership group for 2014 – Kelly is expected to be involved for a fifth straight season - but this year adopted a pre-season leadership group to drive standards and help fast-track the next batch of leaders. Those involved included Caddy, Horlin-Smith, Cowan, Duncan and Vardy alongside skipper Joel Selwood and Harry Taylor.
To Kelly it’s an important step in transitioning the mindset of the club’s inexperienced core.
“There’s a group of players who aren’t young players anymore…they’re senior players who have played plenty of footy. It’s almost disrespectful to call them young players now,” he said.
“They might be still learning but they’ve got the experience to impact.
“When you combine that with leadership then you’ve got a large core that can drive the group.”
One man they won’t need to drive is Kelly. Having tasted success he is addicted. Throw in the something of a minor redemption and it’s not hard to see why the track-watchers at Geelong have spruiked the aggressive midfielder since day one of pre-season.
KELLY ON THE KITTENS
JAKE KOLODJASHNIJ – pick 41, 2013
“What I look for in the young blokes are traits they’ve got that you won’t really need to teach them and Jake’s got a real good knack of reading the ball for a first year player and he’s really impressed with his intercept balls and intercept handball. Some of the stuff he does takes some of the best players in the game a long time to learn. He’s got that early so he can evolve from a higher starting point,”
JARRAD JANSEN – pick 36, 2013
“Always seems to get to the fall of the ball and he gets after the ball and the man really well. With good young players who get drafted they are all about getting the ball and getting the ball in space, but he actually really enjoys the inside work and putting pressure on.”
DARCY LANG – pick 16, 2013
“Probably one of the best well-rounded players that I’ve seen for a while. He moves well, he’s fit, he’s a good kick, makes good decisions. I don’t think we’re going to have to teach him as much as some kids that come in.”
