West Coast Eagles star Tim Kelly makes sad admission about love of game

Star West Coast midfielder Tim Kelly has made the sad admission that he’s fallen out of love with the game.

It’s been tough going on Kelly — who is playing in the Indigenous All-Stars game against Fremantle on Saturday — since he left Geelong at the end of 2019 and joined the Eagles ahead of the 2020 season.

The Eagles made finals in Kelly’s first year but since then it has been a slow and drastic decline. They finished ninth in 2021, second last in 2022 with just two wins, last in 2023, and third last in 2024.

Meanwhile, he’s watched his former club win the flag in 2022 and narrowly miss out on another grand final berth last year.

The 2019 All-Australian has been a shadow of himself in recent seasons, and he was asked about his contract status as he faced the media on Wednesday.

“It is probably something that’ll work itself out,” he said. “My manager (Anthony Van Der Wielen) works pretty hard in that space.

“To be honest, for me, it’s about honing in on what I’ve got to do, get my body right … my love of the game hasn’t been great over the last couple of years.

“There’s a lot of contract talk and this and that, but I’m just trying to love the game again. And hopefully that comes.”

Kelly’s contract with the Eagles runs out at the end of this year.

The West Australian reported earlier this year that Kelly and his manager had not yet spoken to the club about an extension.

The 30-year-old was linked to Fremantle in 2024 but a trade obviously didn’t happen.

Meanwhile, West Coast coach Adam Simpson was sacked (after 10 wins in the past three seasons) and now the club is hoping for a new dawn under new coach Andrew McQualter.

“It’s been a tough few years and I’m not the only one. Everyone here has been working really hard and not getting much reward,” Kelly said.

“It’s been frustrating to say the least but it’s got to turn around eventually so we’ll see how we go.”

Kelly said the aim now was to have some fun and win some games.

“Again, I’m not even really thinking about (my future),” he said.

“You probably think you probably are but I’m actually not. I’m just trying to get my body right and get back to having fun.”

He also said retirement had not crossed his mind.

“I don’t think I am necessarily thinking like that,” he said.

“But again, we’ll see how it all plays out.”

He said McQualter had so far been a fabulous addition to the club and had helped breathe life into the football program.

“’Mini’ has been great, him and the coaching staff are doing a hell of the job with the program at the moment,” Kelly said.

“Everything is kind of new. It’s the same game but the new language, different gameplan and all of that.

“I’m just enjoying the process at the moment.

“As a group we’re getting the point where we’re sick of playing against each other and that, so the next step is obviously to do it against real opposition.”