AFL reporter Mitch Cleary believes West Coast’s trade for Tim Kelly is now beginning to hurt the club.
Kelly, 28, joined the Eagles ahead of the 2020 season – on a deal worth a reported $800,000 a year for six seasons - following three years with Geelong where he shone after being drafted as a mature-age recruit.
West Coast were forced to pay up big at the trade table to secure Kelly, parting with pick 14, 24 and 33 in the 2019 Draft and a future first round pick (which turned out to be pick 18 in 2020) – they received the player, pick 52 and a future third round pick in return.
Now in a rebuilding phase after finishing 17th in 2022, it’s easy to say that the Eagles should have kept hold of their selections to reset for the future.
Cleary believes if West Coast kept hold of their picks, they likely would have selected WA product Mitch Georgiades (with their first pick in 2019), a player he feels they’d now be desperate to attract in another trade.
“The Tim Kelly trade hasn’t worked,” Cleary told the Tradies Podcast.
“They brought him in, gave up two first round picks and a stack of cash for Tim Kelly thinking they were in the premiership window.
“(One of those picks) went to Geelong and they took Cooper Stephens, but then (two) picks after Stephens was Mitch Georgiades.
“He is a WA kid, and the Eagles would throw a stack of cash at him right now, he would be the prototype player West Coast would go for right now.”
West Coast have since enquired about trading for Georgiades, particularly last off-season with Junior Rioli joining the Power from the Eagles. The 21-year-old comes off contract at the end of this season.
Cleary’s co-host on Tradies Sam McClure called the Kelly trade a “horror deal” and Cleary believes it’s a move that simply hasn’t worked.
“At the time they were in the premiership window, (and they thought), ‘Is he the cherry on top?’,” Cleary said.
“The more you look at it, the more it looks like Bryce Gibbs at Adelaide.
“It just hasn’t worked, it was far from the cherry on top and instead a deal that hurt a lot.”
Kelly kicked a goal and had 22 disposals (13 effective) in West Coast’s opening round loss to North Melbourne.
The Eagles will hope to pick up their first win of the 2023 season when they host the Giants at Optus Stadium on Sunday evening.