He should be a Magpie, but Jake Kelly is making his mark as a Crow

JAKE Kelly was overlooked twice by Collingwood and drowned his sorrows at schoolies before getting back on the bike — and a plane — to make a name for himself in Adelaide.

Jake Kelly is feeling at home with the Crows. Picture: Callum Robertson

BLESSED with a name that should open doors, Jake Kelly has instead had to bang them down.

Rejected twice by Collingwood — the club he was born into through his Dad, popular premiership winning backman Craig — the then 18-year-old packed his bags and headed to Adelaide as a rookie determined to prove his worth.

Kelly spent his first 12 months toiling in the reserves. He broke into the AFL for 10 games in 2015 before it was back to the SANFL.

The defender hadn’t played an AFL game in 18 months before Round 1 of this season.

“It was difficult, really difficult,” Kelly said of playing the waiting game.

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“You’re there to play AFL football, I’d played 10 games the year before and I wanted to continue that. I think I developed last year, I improved. I tried to stay positive about it.”

By the end of 2016 Kelly had improved his decision making and had a strong handle on the new zone defence coach Don Pyke had implemented.

Jake Kelly is having a brilliant year for the Crows. Picture: Sarah Reed

His conversations with defensive coach James Podsiadly and Pyke during the year were important.

“He’s (Pyke) been there done that, he knows the frustration of it,” Kelly said.

“He knew we weren’t turning over many players. The way Pykey goes about it is he trusts the playing group and that’s really comforting. He’s not going to drop a player on a bad game … he really communicated with me and I understood what I needed to improve on. I felt really comfortable throughout the whole year (despite not playing).”

But that was last year. He’s played 16 of a possible 17 matches for the ladder leaders in 2017, missing the single game because of an eye injury when accidentally poked in the eye by Bomber Cale Hooker.

“I had a goal at the end of last year — I believed I was going to play every game this year, “ Kelly said.

“That’s the way I like to think. It wasn’t arrogance. I feel like if I believe it and say it — not say it to other people but believe it myself — it’s going to happen.

“I usually don’t like to play on confidence. I try to be as confident in Round 1 as I am now, but I guess subconsciously you build confidence over the season and you play with a bit more flare.

“It’s been great, really enjoyable.”

Kelly had been optimistic, if not confident, he would join Collingwood for the 2014 season under the father-son-rule. He played VFL for the Magpies while still at Scotch College but the club, with family friend Nathan Buckley at the helm, ultimately looked elsewhere.

“I probably assumed if I was going to be picked it was going to be by Collingwood,” Kelly said.

“Playing VFL for them, I got a lot of confidence from that, I loved it, it’s a great club and a proud club and I obviously wanted to play for them because my dad played for them.

“It was quite challenging that little bit where they told me they weren’t going to pick me up.

“I probably didn’t think I was going to get picked up in the national draft at that stage but I thought I was fair chance to go to Collingwood in the rookie draft.

Jake Kelly gets drenched in Gatorade after playing in his first win. Picture: Sarah Reed

“About two days before the rookie draft they rang me and said, ‘Nah, it’s just not going to happen this year’. That was a bit unfortunate.

“Luckily for me I faced it at schoolies. It was probably the best way to do it.”

Looking back, perhaps it was the best thing that could have happened.

“I could have gone to Collingwood and everything could have been fine and we’d be having a different conversation,” Kelly said.

“But I think it’s been important I have got out of Melbourne. I have got out of that whole Collingwood bubble.

“It’s a great club and it’s got really good people involved, but I think Adelaide’s been really good for me in a lot of ways.”

Adelaide was already Kelly country of sorts — his father grew up just outside the City of Churches and played over 100 games for Norwood before heading east.

Craig, the 1990 Collingwood premiership defender turned footy uber entrepreneur, is enjoying the ride supporting his son and regularly flies across for games at Adelaide Oval.

“He’s done it all himself, he’s amazing,” Kelly Sr said this week.

Craig Kelly (top right) is chaired from the ground after playing in his final AFL match.

“You’re always proud of your kids when they work hard and have a crack.

“I think it’s really hard for kids, certainly at some organisations more so than others, some clubs more than others, it’s really hard work to be there and have your silly old man’s photo up on the wall. It’s better to start afresh.

“Adelaide’s not far away. I’d argue (it’s) the most professional club in the league at the moment, the best run club in the league, (it’s) just doing a great job.

“It’s been an absolute privilege to experience the journey with them and with him.

“I think absolutely the best thing that’s happened is to experience life outside the bubble of Melbourne and footy.”

And there are no grudges towards the Magpies.

“They supported him with the VFL games … they gave him every opportunity and it wasn’t the right fit for them and that’s what it’s all about,” said Kelly Sr, who manages Pies coach and old teammate Buckley among a raft of the game’s biggest names.

“I’ve got too many mates and Collingwood’s been too great to me and for Jake, so there’s no issue there at all.”

On young Jake’s arrival at the Crows he was quickly nicknamed ‘Bull’, mostly because he was like a bull at a gate.

Jake Kelly goes up for a hanger on Josh Fraser.

Jake Kelly in action for the Crows. Picture: Getty Images

He’s not the biggest fan of the moniker, he prefers just Jake. But he admits it suited his temperament back then.

He’s since mellowed.

“Coming in as a rookie, I needed to work hard like any rookie does to earn their spot on the list and keep their spot,” he said.

“I tried to work really hard and that probably translated into me being a bit intense.

“I try to be intense on the field, I think that’s one of my strengths, but off the field I was still too intense in terms of constantly trying to do this and that to get better.

“At the end of my second year I had a chat to some people and identified that I need to relax a bit more. The last two years I’ve become a lot more relaxed … I just live a really balanced lifestyle now. I try to go into games really relaxed … I think that translates to me playing good football.”

That intense Kelly mindset hasn’t disappeared completely — it’s there to see in spades on the field.

He’s hard at the ball, loves a tackle and is making goalscoring for his opponents incredibly difficult.

“I probably wasn’t blessed with the greatest kick or most talent or speed — luckily I can run a bit, that’s something that’s going for me,” he said.

Jake Kelly is feeling at home with the Crows. Picture: Callum Robertson

“I had to identify when I was a bit younger some areas which I have strengths and that was probably my effort and my attitude towards games and just being really hard to play against.

“I just play within my limitations with my kicking. I want to become more damaging in the next little bit as I improve.”

Plenty of Collingwood supporters, of course, are angry Kelly is not a Pie. Search his name on social media and they’re asking the question why? And calling for heads to roll.

Kelly chuckles when I tell him about it.

“I think they’ll get angrier if we win the flag, wouldn’t they? I wouldn’t want to see them then,” Kelly said, laughing again.

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“They love having a father-son (the Pies have three — Darcy Moore, Josh Daicos and Callum Brown). They’ll be right.”

Kelly is a fan of Buckley and still has feelings for the Magpies, but it’s all relative.

The 22-year-old calls Adelaide home now and it’s at the Crows where he’s making a name for himself.

“I do (still have a soft spot for Collingwood), probably because Nathan is a family friend of ours, I’ve known him for a long time, growing up,” Kelly said.

“I can guarantee on Sunday I won’t be having a soft spot for them (though). I really, really want to smash them.”