How father’s AFL premiership medallion rekindled painful Grand Final memories for Jake Kelly

ADELAIDE’S Jake Kelly thought he had overcome the hurt of his club’s shocking Grand Final loss. Then an inadvertent yet brutal reminder courtesy of his dad rekindled painful thoughts.

Jake Kelly of the Crows dejected after losing the 2017 AFL Grand Final match to Richmond.

ADELAIDE’S Jake Kelly thought he had overcome the hurt of his club’s shocking Grand Final loss to Richmond last year.

But an inadvertent yet brutal reminder of the defeat — courtesy of his dad — during a routine Christmas visit home has rekindled thoughts of that painful day.

Kelly is the son of former Collingwood backman Craig Kelly, who played a crucial role in the Magpies’ drought-breaking premiership side in 1990.

Like all premiership players, Craig at game’s end received a premiership medallion, which now takes pride of place near the staircase in the family home.

And every time Jake passed the medallion during his recent trip home to Melbourne, bad memories of Adelaide’s horror loss came flooding back.

“Initially I was able to move on. I went on holidays pretty much straight after and I was able to distract myself over there. But it’s more particularly moments that get me still,” Kelly told FiveAA’s Sportsday on Wednesday night.

“I was back in Melbourne for a bit and I saw my old man’s premiership medal when I walked down the stairs to the car each time, so every time I looked at that, it dawned on me I wasn’t a premiership player. We had a great opportunity to all become one, but we didn’t.”

Kelly added there had been other times when he’d been involuntarily reminded of Richmond’s 48-point thumping of Adelaide.

Jake Kelly’s Adelaide lost to Richmond by 48 points. Picture: Sarah Reed

“Little things like Richmond being on TV or Facebook or social media, whatever it may be — they’re probably the ones that really get me personally,” he said.

Kelly opened up on the intense Grand Final review Adelaide had upon the players’ return for pre-season training.

As tough as the review was, the Crows defender said it was an inspiring way to kick off the club’s summer, with the playing group predominantly driving the feedback session.

“We had a really strong feedback session where we put everything on the table and put some really good goals in place as to what we need to improve on and where we need to get better at,” he said.

“We had multiple reviews where we looked at different aspects of the game. Some were more driven by coaches and some were more player-driven.

“That’s where we want to get to as a club. We want to be a player-driven club where the players take responsibility for their own careers.”

With Jake Lever joining Melbourne and Brodie Smith to miss most of the year with an ACL injury, there are two spots up for grabs alongside Kelly in Adelaide’s defence.

Kelly revealed that young gun Wayne Milera had been training predominantly with the backline over the summer in a sign he could take Smith’s spot.

Kelly also nominated Alex Keath and Tom Doedee as potential Lever replacements.

“I wouldn’t have any concerns in terms of replacing Jake. Those two guys can really fill that void,” Kelly said.

Originally published as How father’s AFL premiership medallion rekindled painful Grand Final memories for Jake Kelly