Kelly dreaming of AFL flag with the Crows
Sep 16, 2017 - 5:31 PM People tell him not to, but Adelaide defender Jake Kelly can't help it.The Crows are two wins from an AFL premiership.
And despite advice not to dwell on the thought, Kelly can't help himself.
"I think about it every night, mate," Kelly told AAP.
"A lot of people say 'you don't want to think about it'. But I think about it. It's hard not to. Who doesn't think about it?
"You're only two weeks away from winning a premiership potentially.
"I have thought about it for the whole year and all the boys have. ... we can almost touch it."
Kelly is the son of Collingwood's 1990 premiership-winner Craig Kelly, now among the AFL's leading player agents.
But the 22-year-old barely speaks about footy with his dad, who only ever showed his son one match from his 122-game career.
"I only watch one game, the 1990 Grand Final," he said.
The 22-year-old expected to follow his father and play for Collingwood - he played for their VFL side in 2013 and the club told him they'd recruit him in the rookie draft.
But the Magpies were unable to find a spot for Kelly when an un-named player who was earmarked for delisting was kept by Collingwood.
"I didn't have many clubs into me, to be honest," he said.
"I only had maybe four and Adelaide was one of those clubs, and by the end of the year they were easily the most interested."
The Crows used pick 40 in the 2013 rookie draft on Kelly.
And Kelly, at his first pre-season training session, made an impression on teammates, who immediately dubbed him Bull - short for bull at a gate.
"The nickname came about in the first warm-up," he said.
"I had probably never done a warm-up in my life before I got to the club so when we warmed up for about half an hour, which happens at AFL clubs, I thought it was the start of training.
"So I was going a bit harder than most other blokes.
"Coming on a rookie list, I had to be not manic, but intense in my preparation ... you have to make the most of it and work a bit harder than other guys."
Kelly played 10 AFL matches in 2015 and was then dropped - he didn't play another AFL game until round one this year.
"It was 18 months without AFL football so that was frustrating," he said.
"It was almost like I had to overcome the fact that I was dropped in 2015 and go 'am I good enough to play AFL football?'."
Source: AAP
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