ST Kilda’s Grace Kelly has been through a lot over the past two years, but things are back on track for the Irishwoman in her AFLW career.

Originally recruited to West Coast, she moved to the Saints after Season 6 but was forced to sit the whole of Season 7 out due to injury. She said that last season was really tough.

“I tried to be as positive as I could around the girls, and they were amazing and the medical team and the staff here were so good as well,” Kelly said. “I have to say it was extremely tough because it was very up and down. I’d be improving for a few weeks and then I’d back to square one again, so it was just that type of injury. Once I’d accepted I was going to be out for the season, I accepted that and could move on.”

Despite the frustrations of last season, she is loving being back out playing footy regularly again.

“It feels amazing” Kelly said. “Obviously last year I was out with my Achilles so I was a year out but it felt like three or four years. But I think it just gave me more fire in the belly this year to get going, so I love being back out there.”

Kelly said that the decision to leave the Eagles came from a desire for change.

“I was three years at West Coast Eagles and I really enjoyed my time there,” she said. “Loved the club and the girls, and I liked my role at the club as well. The third year I was kind of a bit stagnant in my play, and I wasn’t really getting the most out of myself.

“I just wanted a change and move to the other side of Australia as well, have a look at what’s over this side and I’m glad I did. There’s a great Irish community here as well so I feel very at home.”

It was not necessarily coincidence that Kelly and sister Niamh both left West Coast in the same year. They were both looking for a change and finding things were getting a bit stagnant for them. Kelly said they were open to anything when it came to moving clubs, so it was just the way the cookie crumbled that Grace ended up at the Saints and Niamh at the Crows.

Now that both Kelly sisters are playing at different clubs for the first time in their sporting careers, Grace admitted she is a bit nervous about the potential of facing Niamh on the Australian rules field.

“We’re both very competitive so I suppose if we were one on one against each other … I don’t think we’d get the football we’d just go for each other,” she said with a laugh.

“That’s just in us. We’ve always been so competitive but I wouldn’t be here only for her and she wouldn’t be here only for me, so it’s good that we’re that competitive.”

The change in clubs has also seen a change in position for Kelly from the forward line to half back.

“I wanted to use my run a bit more, run and carry,” Kelly said, speaking about why she made the position change.

“I like that half-back role because you kind of see the field in front of you and I can read the play and know when to run and when not to. Still learning, but the games so far have been enjoyable and I just like using my pace to break lines.”

Like many fellow Irish talents of the AFLW, Kelly came to the AFLW with an extensive career in Gaelic football behind her.

“I’ve played Gaelic since I was about five or six years old with my local club team Moy Davitts and then I played County from Under 12 the whole way up to Senior with Mayo,” Kelly said.

“At home Gaelic football is all about the love of the game so there’s no transfers or anything so making the move out here was huge because I love Gaelic football and I haven’t played in a few years now so I do miss it from time to time.

“Maybe one day I’ll go back and play again, but I really enjoyed my career and was very luckily we had a successful team with Mayo and we got to play in Croke Park, which is a huge stadium, and in front of thousands of people as well. I was very lucky with the career I had with Gaelic.”

With the clash between the AFLW and LGFA with regards to season schedules, Kelly said that it’s been “very tough” to put a pause on her Gaelic career.

“I suppose that’s why I’m just playing the AFLW now at the moment, so I had to just go with one because it’s hard to play both especially if you’re prone to injuries and niggles and you want to be at your best, so it’s really hard to sustain that especially when you get to my age,” she said.

Moving to a Victorian AFLW club means that Kelly is now living in the same state as many of her former Mayo team mates, including Aileen Gilroy and Sarah Rowe, and she said that it’s so nice to be living in the same state as them again.

“We meet up every so often, so it’s great to meet up with them as well,” Kelly said.

“There’s so many other not even just from Mayo but with other Melbourne teams as well from all over Ireland, we meet up, we have a WhatsApp group. It’s good to meet up and just chat AFL and Gaelic as well. We all have some kind of similar styles of play as well so we talk about the challenges we face as well, which is good and I get comfort in knowing that they’re going through some of the same challenges as me.”