Crows midfielder Ben Keays has made a big impression after being given an AFL lifeline at Adelaide
Ben Keays held Fremantle star Michael Walters to just one disposal in the first half on Sunday. Here’s the story of how an end of season phone call in Vegas helped the former Lion unlock his midfield potential at the Crows.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The old saying might be: “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, but for Ben Keays when he was in Las Vegas on the Brisbane Lions’ 2019 end of season trip, one phone call he took there, not only came home to Australia with him, but continues to shape who he is today.
Then 22, he was enjoying a much-anticipated holiday with teammates when coach Chris Fagan called: after four seasons and 30 games, the club was delisting him.
Kayo is your ticket to the 2020 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. Watch every match of every round Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
Drafted by Brisbane in 2015 at pick 24, Keays played 16 AFL games in his debut season in 2016, but in 2018 and 2019 played only two games each year.
Meanwhile, he shone at NEAFL level, winning the Andrew Ireland Medal for best-on-ground in the Lions’ 2017 grand final triumph over Sydney and was one of four Lions players to win the club’s 2018 reserves best and fairest award.
Last year, the 185cm Keays, made the transition from midfielder to small forward and thrived, booting 43.19 from 16 games.
Despite it, he struggled to break into Brisbane’s 2019 side that was flying with the likes of Lachie Neale, Charlie Cameron and Dayne Zorko.
So Keays knew what was coming. Fagan’s phone call was not going to be good news.
But he was philosophical about it: “I was realistic with where the list was at … Obviously with Brisbane being as good as they were and not many injuries it was just so hard to crack into.
“It was disappointing, but (after the call) we were actually about to head out on the town, so I moved on … it was definitely an enjoyable trip and that’s what I remember more of the trip, than getting delisted,” he said.
.@benkeays talks through settling into a new club through uncertain times.#OptusCrowsShow pic.twitter.com/E5EizCn5RL
— The Optus Crows Show (@TheCrowsShow) June 29, 2020
When Keays returned from Vegas, he was unsure of what was next, he’d caught up with Crows list manager Justin Reed for a coffee, but after he didn’t get picked up in the National Draft there were no guarantees of what lay ahead.
He decided to move from Brisbane to Melbourne, play for the Boxhill Hawks in the VFL and perhaps do some study and get a job.
Instead, Adelaide did come calling, picking him up at No. 7 in the rookie draft. Suddenly, Keays’ AFL career was back.
“I’m actually pretty grateful for that whole period because I really got to look at what life might look like without the AFL,” the 23-year-old said.
“I think it’s important for players to have that. Obviously I don’t want every player to go through what I went through, but I do see the positives in the transition that I went through, in terms of waiting that month or two, not knowing whether I’d play again, that was beneficial to me.”
What Keays did in those unknown weeks before the Crows picked him up, was commit to maintaining his fitness and he didn’t miss a weight session or run, he started breathing and meditation exercises. So when he arrived at West Lakes he was ready to make an impression. But just as he’d started settling in, COVID-19 hit and suddenly he was back in his home state of Queensland as football shut down, surrounded by family, but training alone again.
When the return to play was called, Keays returned to Adelaide and made his debut in the tricolours in the Crows’ Round 2 Showdown loss before heading back to Queensland where he has been inside the Gold Coast hub since mid-June.
Having played only two games a season for the Lions in the past two years, Keays has played three games in 2020, heading largely back into the midfield.
When taking on his old club in Round 5, he stood Brownlow-contender Lachie Neale and held him to an uncharacteristic 10 touches in the first half. The week before that, Keays stood Gold Coast’s young gun Matt Rowell in the final term and kept him to two disposals.
According to Champion Data he is currently the No. 1 ranked player in the Crows for both pressure points and pressure acts and second for tackles.
With past games standing Rowell and Neale, Keays was tasked with keeping Fremantle star Michael Walters quiet on Sunday and he did just that: holding the 155-game Docker so well that, remarkably, he had no touches in the middle of the ground in the first half.
“I’m more than happy to put my hand up for roles like that,” Keays says.
“That’s always been my style and hopefully I can continue to put my hand up.”
Keays, who was born in Melbourne and moved to Queensland as a five-year-old with his family when he was five, grew up a Lions supporter, but is thrilled to have moved to Adelaide, despite coming into the club as it goes through a rebuild.
“Obviously it has been a transitioning period (for Adelaide), but I was at Brisbane when they changed coaches and changed personnel and they got a new footy manager, all those things that have just happened at Adelaide, I was there when they happened at Brisbane.
“From the outside looking in, people see it as a challenging time and they ask questions, but from what I’ve experienced ever since I walked through the doors (at West Lakes), it’s been nothing but positive for me.”