Kelly shines against Suns

TIM Kelly didn’t wait long to introduce himself.

The speedy mature-age recruit has set tongues wagging during the pre-season and, within seconds, Cats fans who had never seen the 23-year-old before found out why there was so much hype.

Kelly swooped on a loose ball from the first bounce, got the clearance and put a pinpoint kick on Tom Hawkins’ chest.

And after the Suns scored the first goal of the game, he was back in the guts and got the second centre clearance too.

Kelly was one of the few shining lights in a pretty bland performance by Geelong in its 56-point loss to Gold Coast in Townsville.

Only a slight knock to Kelly’s leg towards the end of the third quarter saw his game end prematurely.

But what he had done up until then was classy, finishing with 13 disposals and three tackles from 60 per cent game time.

And then there were a few things that the stats didn’t show. Kelly was happy to throw his body around, laying a couple of sly bumps on opposition players as they disposed of the ball.

He didn’t look like a player who was in his first game.

There were no signs of timidness and he was composed with the ball. Kelly’s performance was the best of the new Cats, highlighting again the reputation he has forged on those long summer days at Geelong’s Waurn Ponds training base.

It’s the type of output that will see his name pop up in selection chatter heading into Round 1.

There’s certainly a spot there for a player of Kelly’s type against Melbourne. The Cats have shown over the years they favour those speedy, hard-running types and Kelly fits the mould.

He is classy on the inside, but is more than happy to get the ball and run with it. His decision-making wasn’t too bad yesterday, especially for a guy who is yet to play a proper senior game. If we learnt just one thing from yesterday’s loss to the Suns, then it’s that Kelly is good to go.