{"id":144534,"date":"2023-10-19T10:43:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T00:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/?p=144534"},"modified":"2023-10-19T10:44:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T00:44:00","slug":"kellys-ship-back-on-course-after-big-18-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2023\/10\/19\/kellys-ship-back-on-course-after-big-18-months\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelly’s ship back on course after big 18 months"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ST Kilda\u2019s Grace Kelly<\/a> has been through a lot over the past two years, but things are back on track for the Irishwoman in her AFLW career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI 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\u2019d be improving for a few weeks and then I\u2019d back to square one again, so it was just that type of injury. Once I\u2019d accepted I was going to be out for the season, I accepted that and could move on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the frustrations of last season, she is loving being back out playing footy regularly again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt feels amazing\u201d Kelly said. \u201cObviously 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelly said that the decision to leave the Eagles came from a desire for change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI 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\u2019t really getting the most out of myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I just wanted a change and move to the other side of Australia as well, have a look at what\u2019s over this side and I\u2019m glad I did. There\u2019s a great Irish community here as well so I feel very at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not necessarily coincidence that Kelly and sister Niamh<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re both very competitive so I suppose if we were one on one against each other … I don\u2019t think we\u2019d get the football we\u2019d just go for each other,\u201d she said with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just in us. We\u2019ve always been so competitive but I wouldn\u2019t be here only for her and she wouldn\u2019t be here only for me, so it\u2019s good that we\u2019re that competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The change in clubs has also seen a change in position for Kelly from the forward line to half back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to use my run a bit more, run and carry,\u201d Kelly said, speaking about why she made the position change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many fellow Irish talents of the AFLW, Kelly came to the AFLW with an extensive career in Gaelic football behind her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt home Gaelic football is all about the love of the game so there\u2019s no transfers or anything so making the move out here was huge because I love Gaelic football and I haven\u2019t played in a few years now so I do miss it from time to time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Maybe one day I\u2019ll 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the clash between the AFLW and LGFA with regards to season schedules, Kelly said that it\u2019s been “very tough” to put a pause on her Gaelic career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI suppose that\u2019s why I\u2019m just playing the AFLW now at the moment, so I had to just go with one because it\u2019s hard to play both especially if you\u2019re prone to injuries and niggles and you want to be at your best, so it\u2019s really hard to sustain that especially when you get to my age,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a> and Sarah Rowe<\/a>, and she said that it\u2019s so nice to be living in the same state as them again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe meet up every so often, so it\u2019s great to meet up with them as well,” Kelly said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019re going through some of the same challenges as me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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