Why the Tim Kelly trade fell over and the text Geelong coach Chris Scott wasn’t expecting
With a deal all but agreed to send Tim Kelly back to Western Australia, Chris Scott was resigned to losing one of Geelong’s prodigious midfield talents. Then he received a text which completely changed his 2019 plans.
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Chris Scott’s head was on the pillow in a Cambridge, Massachusetts bedroom but his mind was spinning at a million miles an hour.
In that lonely pre-dawn hour the Geelong premiership coach was getting his head around life after Tim Kelly.
Scott was completing a Harvard University study course, but back home master recruiter Stephen Wells was completing a trade deal for Kelly that Scott had officially endorsed.
All West Coast needed was to pull the trigger and hand over picks 20, 22 and their 2019 second-rounder in exchange for Kelly and the Cats’ 2019 third-rounder.
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Geelong had just handed the reigning premiers the most electrifying young midfield talent to enter the game that season.
Then Scott’s phone beeped again.
“It was about 4.30am US time and I was in Harvard so I had a little bit on my mind over and above the Tim Kelly thing, which was clearly the most important thing on my mind,” Scott revealed to the Herald Sun this week.
“I love him as a player and I wanted to keep him playing with Geelong but I hung up the phone thinking we would have lost him.
“So then the text message came through 15 minutes later. It’s always Wellsy, he takes responsibility for it. The text just said NO DEAL.
“I could not have been happier.
“The only thing that gave me a bit of hesitation was the fact on balance Tim wanted to go back. As a coach there wouldn’t be a person out there who wouldn’t empathise with that position.
“That needed to be managed and we did genuinely have that sympathy for him. But if we fast-forward to now, Tim is having a pretty good time.”
FANS’ MESSAGE
Seven months on from that dramatic game of brinkmanship Tim Kelly’s merchandise is doing a brisk trade at Geelong’s GMHBA headquarters.
Kelly is fresh from his latest midfield masterclass, a 36-possession, two-goal performance that has him second only to Patrick Cripps in the AFL Coaches’ Award.
Yet his precarious position in the hearts and minds of the Geelong faithful means they aren’t going all in just yet.
A saleswoman bedecked in navy blue and white dutifully reports the $6 Tim Kelly badge flies off the shelves.
The pricier Cats jumper featuring Kelly’s No. 11 is still a fan favourite, with some fans buying it especially to show Kelly how much they want him to stay.
Over the road at Kardinia Cafe Gary Ablett Snr’s framed memorabilia holds pride of place, but the fan base is gradually, warily falling in love with 24-year-old Kelly.
How could you not?
Kelly lives 15 minutes down the road from Kardinia Park at the sprawling Armstrong Creek development where former coach Mark Thompson made a mint from a canny investment.
Kelly and partner Caitlin Miller rent a house, living with his cousin and their three children — Tykeem, and twins Tariq and Trey, nearly 18 months
Trey has had to see a specialist about ear, nose and throat issues, while Tykeem is showing signs of non-verbal autism — which in severe cases can limit people to a few words or phrases.
Through sheer coincidence Geelong welfare staffer Mark Worthington lives next door.
The club, already lauded for its investment in players, is moving heaven and earth to convince the Kelly gang that Geelong is the place to put down roots.
In a sense it is working.
His WA-based manager Anthony van der Wielen admits that after last year’s aborted trade, “it was a pretty tense time for everybody at that stage”.
But he says both Tim and Caitlin are trying to keep an open mind about their future as they attempt to learn to love the city for its unique charms.
“I am encouraging him to think about staying at Geelong,” van der Wielen says.
“We have to see how the season plays out but everyone thinks he has made up his mind and is trying to hide it. It’s not the case at all.
“He loves playing there and he loves his teammates but it is getting increasingly hard.
“He has a son who is autistic and it is a very critical time for him.
“They are trying to spend hours with him every day to get over his issues with that and it’s really hard to spend hours a day in therapy when they have the twins to look after.
“They have his cousin over here and that is helping but it’s still not the same as having your family there.
“It’s not as simple as bringing his family over. They have things over there and elderly grandparents involved as well.”
WELFARE TEAM
Kelly kicks about with Quinton Narkle, Esava Ratugolea and Nakia Cockatoo — or “Uncle Cocky” to Kelly’s kids.
He is also tight with the players from his draft class, the Kellys spotted out at dinner earlier this month with Gryan Miers in tow and a Kelly child in his arms.
The clear problem is how to replicate the support of family and friends in a city thousands of kilometres away from home.
Under Kelly’s contract and the collective bargaining agreement his relatives are allowed a set amount of flights outside Geelong’s salary cap.
They were all used up last year, with Caitlin venting her frustration after the aborted trade, saying the support from the club had been “minimal”.
“I’m not sure the Cats have ever recruited a player with three (children) under three from interstate, so maybe they’re unaware of the kind of support that we should have been offered,” she said.
Geelong’s issue is that any extra financial support must be included in the salary cap, with special exemptions only granted with support from 17 rival clubs — that includes West Coast, the club keen to poach him.
Miller’s issues are clearly understandable yet TLA manager Tim Lawrence, who has indigenous clients Cockatoo and Brandon Parfitt at the club, says the Cats’ welfare team — Worthington and former players David Johnson and Mathew Stokes — is superb.
“They basically have three people working in player welfare, which is unheard of compared to most clubs,” Lawrence said.
“They are very encouraging with Nakia. He probably wasn’t as connected culturally and they have really engaged him with local indigenous groups to get that connection. It’s wonderful what they have done down there.”
DRAFT WAIT OVER
Kelly has been wowing Geelong’s assistant coaches since the minute he set foot inside the club, but Scott’s first “did-he-just-do that” moment came a few months later.
“We played a JLT Series game in Townsville against the Suns and (Gary) Ablett, (Joel) Selwood and (Patrick) Dangerfield didn’t play,” Scott said
“My initial thought when we let Steve Motlop go is we would bring him in as a like-for-like. A high forward, winger type.
“At the first centre bounce we put him into the middle and it was just ground ball, flash through, take the ball at full speed. That was the moment in my mind I thought he might be a bit better than even I thought.
“He hasn’t got the size of Dangerfield but he’s quick and agile. He is not necessarily the hard contested player of Selwood but he’s so clean and good in traffic.
“My belief that he was a high half forward/flanker has just been completely wrong.”
The eldest of five boys to an indigenous father and Chilean mother, Kelly went from the Palmyra junior football club into South Fremantle’s junior pathways.
Despite dominating at under-age level, an oblique tear in his abdomen and then late-season medial strain decimated his junior year.
Then began a yearly pattern in his 93 games for WAFL club South Fremantle — play well, have his draft hopes dashed, absorb the feedback, go again.
In 2016 after four missed drafts the 21-year-old believed he was finally within touching distance of his goal, having worked assiduously on the main flaw — kicking accuracy.
“Year after year he had gone back and worked on his deficiencies and 2016 was really his breakout year,” van der Wielen says.
“By the end of 2016 there were a lot of clubs umming and ahhing about putting him on the rookie list. It was mainly West Coast but to a lesser extent Carlton sniffing around.
“No one quite had the balls to draft him but by 2017 they were all kicking themselves.”
Five weeks into the 2017 WAFL season, Kelly was the hottest draft prospect in footy.
AFL talent manager Kevin Sheehan remembers going to a WAFL v VFL game and being stopped by a relative telling him how Kelly was desperate to get his crack at the big time.
He peeled off 24 possessions and nine inside 50s in that contest on his way to a second-placing in the Sandover Medal.
Everyone was into him.
“Throughout 2017 it was Carlton, Geelong, West Coast, Fremantle, Richmond,” his manager said.
“Every club was interested but it came down to who had what picks.
“We knew it would be unlikely someone would use a really early pick for a mature-ager but we thought it would be an early-second rounder … 20-something.”
Fremantle never considered him at pick 5 (Adam Cerra), West Coast took Jarrod Brander (pick 13) and Oscar Allen (pick 21) then Geelong took Lachie Fogarty before him at pick 22.
Kelly was in Geelong’s keeping at pick 24, before the Eagles hit pay dirt again — Liam Ryan (pick 26), Brayden Ainsworth (pick 32) and Jack Petrucelle (pick 38).
HOT PROPERTY
West Coast should have drafted Kelly, then 12 months later probably should have committed to that trade on a five-year deal worth around $3 million a season.
Their officials walked out of that bruising negotiation saying Geelong’s asking price was unfair.
This week as they reflected on the aborted deal they made clear in that 2018 draft clubs knew it was a deep pool with hopes players such as Zak Butters and Xavier Duursma (both mid-teens picks) would still be on the table.
If Kelly is to officially request a trade again this much is clear — the market price is somewhere between two first-rounders and a first-rounder and high second-round pick.
Fremantle has made it clear Kelly is their No. 1 trade target.
The Dockers have cap space for a godfather offer — say $6 million over six years.
Their challenge now is to show Kelly they have their house in order — their entire coaching staff is elite, their welfare is competition-leading, their on-field leadership goes past Nathan Fyfe, and that they look after their players as well as cross-town rival West Coast.
Playing in their favour, Van Der Wielen and Fremantle footy boss Peter Bell go way back — sharing racehorses, property developments and a 2009 South Fremantle premiership when board member Van Der Wielen lured the Dockers star and Jeff Farmer back post-AFL retirement.
West Coast, last year’s premiers, does not have the same treasure chest.
Their key weapon is the draft. The Eagles have selections 12, 15 and 24 — they gained an extra second-round pick when Sydney traded in and out of the draft to secure Nick Blakey.
On current ladder position they have selections 12, 15 and 24.
Geelong has its own issues paying Kelly market rates, with a full-to-bulging salary cap and two veterans in Gary Ablett and Harry Taylor playing exceptional football.
What is clear is that the cost of flying family and friends across the country every month or so would have to be factored into any deal Kelly accepted at Geelong.
From the moment Geelong secured Kelly they knew they had a battle ahead to retain him, but if he does go it will be after one of footy’s great two-year cameos.
“It was an early pick for us and we did have to consider the fact he had young children and a move might be harder,” Scott says now.
“But I still remember his reaction on draft night which was, ‘Thank you so much, I will never forget the fact you have given me a chance’.
“A lot of players say that. But maybe Geelong should be the one who should be thankful, and we absolutely are.”
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