STRENGTHS:

+ Endurance
+ Clean hands
+ Decision making
+ Defensive pressure
+ Team-first nature
+ Competitiveness
+ Strength

IMPROVEMENTS:

- Speed
- Handball-to-kick ratio
- Kicking efficiency

The word 'clean' sums up Kelly's football with the Claremont midfielder just a fantastically effective ball user by hand, particularly when under pressure. Her decision making around the stoppages to pick the the right option and release is terrific, and while she lacks the leg speed to break away, plays a first possession-winning gamestyle that suits her strengths and reduces her deficiencies.

From a ball-winning perspective, Kelly's production rate has seriously lifted over the last 12 months to even get to the point at where she is racking up 48 touches in a WAFLW game. Granted it was against the wooden spooners East Perth with a couple of key midfield teammates out, but what was good was the fact that Kelly stepped up to the plate and took it upon herself to win the ball and be that midfield general alongside ex-AFLW player Matilda Sergeant who had 44 of her own disposals in the same game.

Kelly's clean hands and toughness around the contest stand out, and she is one player coaches can always rely on to do a job be it ball-winning, clearance-winning or tagging. She did a good job of tagging Zippy Fish in the 2024 WAFLW Grand Final despite the leg speed difference between the two which goes to show how Kelly is incredibly good at playing to her strengths.

The West Australian is one of those players who knows her role and plays her role, and while her kicking can be more efficient at times, she is always that handball-leaning midfielder. To the point that even when kicking a rare goal for the Sandgropers on the move inside 50, Kelly hesitated and prepared to dish off the handball rather than take the shot, which she was fully entitled to do.

From an endurance perspective, Kelly is one of the best gut-runners in the draft crop. A couple of years back she smashed the rest of the field in the yo-yo test at the WAFLW Preseason Testing event, and has mental toughness that just cannot be taught. Rarely flustered, always in control, Kelly just keeps backing up and is a player that even as a neutral you grow to respect.

Her team-first nature will endear her to those in the same colours, and her competitiveness and strength only adds to a lore that is deep-rooted in winning, but winning fair. She will never take a backwards step, stand up if called upon, and use the ball effectively by hand to draw an opponent and time the release perfectly to begin a forward transitional play for her team.

At times, Kelly's handballing is a work of art the way she can weight the pass to a teammate and it is easy to see why she leans heavily into that mode of disposal compared to her kicking. If she can continue to develop on her use by foot, as well as building up some extra explosiveness, then she always has the 'unteachable' elements to her game with her natural motivations.