Tim Kelly’s manager, Anthony van der Wielen, has opened up on the family reasons behind his client’s request for a trade to West Coast.
Kelly has requested a move to the Eagles, and van der Wielen hopes a trade between the premiers and the Cats can be achieved this year. The 24-year-old midfielder is contracted to Geelong until the end of 2019.
In a statement today, Geelong said: "it is highly likely he will remain with the club, however, out of respect for Tim, we will listen to what Fremantle and West Coast are prepared to offer and determine whether or not we believe it is a viable trade for our club".
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“At this stage he wants to go home right now and I can’t see that to be any different in 12 months time, in fact it would probably be stronger I would think,” van der Wielen told SEN Afternoons.
“That’s why I hope both clubs can work out a way forward for this.
“It’s in everyone’s best interests while he still has more currency, Geelong can hopefully get something out of it as well, rather when he comes out of contract next year.”
His manager also gave a larger insight into the extent of Kelly’s family situation.
“It’s been a pretty tough year for Tim and the family being away from home,” van der Wielen said.
“He was drafted in November, his partner was heavily pregnant at the time with twins and had a two-year-old son at the time as well.
“He had, when drafted, come over to Geelong, leave his partner and family behind because she was too heavily pregnant to fly and then of course on the 30th of December she gave birth to twins.
“It wasn’t until February the family got to head over to Geelong and were able to fly and things like that.
“A couple weeks later, Tim was already playing AFL footy.
“Without the family structure and support around, it’s just been tough on the kids.
“He absolutely loves the Geelong Football Club and loves playing for the Geelong Football Club.
“They’ve been absolutely fantastic in trying to accommodate Tim and the family.
“Ideally, Tim has said on a number of occasions if he could pick up the Geelong Football Club and bring them back to Perth, he wouldn’t be going anywhere.”
Listen to Anthony van der Wielen’s chat with Andy Maher on SEN Afternoons in the player below
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