What if Tim Kelly NEVER joined the Eagles? (AFL Alternate Reality)

Imagine an alternate AFL reality where Tim Kelly plays for Fremantle, Caleb Serong plays for Melbourne, Kysaiah Pickett plays for the Cats and the Eagles have Chad Warner and Jye Amiss on their list. Sounds bizarre, doesn’t it? But in this video, I’m going to forecast the impact on several AFL teams in a world where Tim Kelly doesn’t join the West Coast Eagles in 2019.

[@ThePatster93]

I remember this trade as a cata fan. He was one of my favourite players on the list at the time and i was devastated. I still love watching him play and i hope he has comfort in being with his family and community and im sure he is helping the west coast up and comers find their feet! These days id hate to think of an alternate reality without jez and max holmes

[@jaekenzo64]

Geelong list manager is a tactical and strategic genius. That's the takeaway from this.

[@damobdaking]

Tim Kelly is a bloody good player to do a rebuild with. That said, as a Freo fan heard all sorts of odd rumours about Kelly and his problems with a certain Freo player. If that was true, glad he did not end up at the club as we had problems with certain players as it was.

[@JayKay-on2gr]

What player was that?

[@damobdaking]

@@JayKay-on2gr The one whose calf meant he never played with us, from Gold Coast Bennell I think his name was.

[@BDub2024]

Dockers just nailed their picks. But probably a bit of luck there too. So in retrospect the Dockers will be glad. But imagine a scenario that they keep Akers, Neale, Hill, Henry, Cerra, Schultz and then add Kelly. That's an awesome side that would be in premiership contention right here right now. He would in that scenario be a very important player for the Dockers. As it stands Dockers are three years from a premiership window, assuming they don't keep losing their better players and Kelly will be retired by then.

[@LeeWCE]

Sliding doors moments, amazing how the pieces move from one different decision. Fun to watch this. Still happy TK came to the eagles, we were in the window, other factors came into play unfortunately.

[@BDub2024]

Coming out of the video it doesn't appear we've missed out on much. Georgiades and Sharp and a chance of getting a number of players that may not have made it anyway. Or at the very least still be developing. The thing is that without Kelly we would have been far worse in the last two years. Eagles jumped in because they felt that they desperately needed midfielders in order to win another flag. Even at that point in time they were worried about their midfield depth. They played overs, but probably only one of those picks. Also, you have to remember they also got Bazzo and Ledwards from the picks as well that Geelong provided. If Kelly can have three more years at top fitness and effectiveness, then I think it will definitely be positive on the ledger. Fact is that Eagles badly need class on their roster to get wins and show the youngsters how its done. Going back to year zero didn't work for Melbourne and put them in the wilderness for many years.

[@madelineirwin1245]

This video makes me wonder how Adelaide would have gone in 2017 with Gibbs or how they would have gone without him at all. As you said, premierships paper over decisions like this.

[@wooden2187]

I was on a plane next to Brady Rawlings in 2017, I saw him watching videos of what I thought was old Lewis Jetta Sydney footage… I guess it was some South Freo player I’d never heard of.

[@thatgirl9532]

Tbh Tim Kelly would still be an excellent player had he not gone to West Coast. He was an exceptional player at Geelong while at the Eagles, not only has the team has struggled but so has his career form.

[@maxshiraz3447]

No question that the Kelly trade enabled the Cameron trade and was instrumental in the 2022 Premiership

[@JolanScott]

Nice video once again mate. Just a quick video idea. I reckon you should do best and most impactful draft classes for a single club. For instance. Blues 2015 draft and hawthorns 2004 draft.

[@TrueFootyAFL]

Great minds think alike ;) kzbin.info/www/bejne/bH-4maSDq6eEnKcsi=eGLP3QvcvRv0e0_x

[@JolanScott]

@@TrueFootyAFLHAHA can’t believe I haven’t seen it.

[@CapnFlash48]

Imagine a Demons mid with Oliver, Traca and Serong!

[@ColinMarinich]

Great take, an interesting topic. Glass half full or glass half empty, either wat hindsight is not available at the time of the trade.

[@BDub2024]

Talking about Glasses, was Darren Glass there as list manager at the time. He seemed to have made a few errors in his couple of years in footy dept roles.

[@mauricetermesana9419]

As a Cats fan I thought Tim Kelly was an incredible player and I was sad that he wanted to go to Perth however I understood his family situation which was not made up unlike other players that want to get traded. I was disappointed at the time that he refused to go to Fremantle and would only go to WC because Freemantle had the better picks. I think the Cats would still have managed the Jezza trade as I believe the GIANTS went really hard because they knew the Cats had all of those picks otherwise they may have even let him go as the free agent and compensation pick. Cats seem to be the only ones that trade for free agents ( Jezza & Dangerfield). Where they may have struggled is cap space unless Selwood, Danger and Hawkins took an even bigger cut. I understand WC doing it because they were right in the window particularly since they tried to get him 1 year earlier but the Cats held him to his contract. It didn't work out for them but it was not Kellys fault. As you said injuries but I also believe that they didn't handle Covid well at all. Perhaps because many had young families but compared to the teams that embraced the hubs, constant change and unknown. It seemed to set of a chain reaction and downward spiral. Tim will be good for the development of the young players coming through.

[@Zelmazam1]

This is the same energy as those anime videos that are like what if Goku never got sick after namik

[@justinwolff1416]

I felt TK would have been happy to remain at the Cats. Committed to the club. Trained hard. Enjoyed his team mates and the lifestyle. Thankful for the opportunity we gave him to play at the highest level. Really could not fault his attitude, onfield work rate or all-round professionalism. But as they say, 'Happy wife, happy life'... and the wife was NEVER going to be happy at the Cattery... nor Tim at Freo.

[@jimi-w]

I’m interested in the alternate reality where Geelong don’t pick up TK. Do we still get Liam Ryan? Or any of our other picks down the line?

[@drdc22]

The trade was the right call at the time and the "first rounders" were hardly premium picks (top 10 or higher). He is still a class player. Im not losing sleep over this and hope we make moves like this next time we are in a premiership window. Flags are all that matter. Better to roll the dice and lose than not roll the dice and miss out on a premiership.

[@BenParsons1995]

If he wanted to get back home he would've been at Fremantle by now, they would've given better draft assets

[@amandareilly4919]

I love this content, so interesting!

[@TheMichaelMills]

This was a fun take. I reckon there is probably a few more trades of this scope that could be deep dived into like this one. I am certainly glad as a Dockers supporter that he went to West Coast. We have had far too many trades go sour over the years (Hogan probably the worst of them). Still rate Kelly as a player but love the young midfield the Dockers have right now.

[@BDub2024]

Dockers just nailed their picks. But probably a bit of luck there too. So in retrospect the Dockers will be glad. But imagine a scenario that they keep Akers, Neale, Hill, Henry, Cerra, Schultz and then add Kelly. That's an awesome side that would be in premiership contention right here right now. He would in that scenario be a very important player for the Dockers. As it stands Dockers are three years from a premiership window, assuming they don't keep losing their better players and Kelly will be retired by then.

[@brettcoles5262]

WC lost big time in this trade. Never ever trade away your club future and trading 2 first rounders with other picks was way overs.

[@krull2534]

It was a costly deal. But at the time we were set to have an epic midfield of Nic Nat, yeo, shuey and Kelly. Sadly nic Nat did an acl and yeo and Shuey had regular injuries. From memory the 3 of them never played a game together.

[@spindoctor6385]

That is easy to say in hindsight. At the time WC were up and should have expected another crack at a flag. When the window is open you have to do all you can to give yourself a shot. Winning a flag and then being down for 5-7 years is a much better result than staying a mid range team for 10 years. There are obviously no guarantees either way but topping up with A grade talent when you are pushing top four is not a bad idea. Geelong did it for a decade after 2011.

[@brettcoles5262]

Just played overs and way over at that@@spindoctor6385

[@BDub2024]

Coming out of the video it doesn't appear we've missed out on much. Georgiades and Sharp and a chance of getting a number of players that may not have made it anyway. Or at the very least still be developing. The thing is that without Kelly we would have been far worse in the last two years. Eagles jumped in because they felt that they desperately needed midfielders in order to win another flag. Even at that point in time they were worried about their midfield depth. They played overs, but probably only one of those picks. Also, you have to remember they also got Bazzo and Ledwards from the picks as well that Geelong provided. If Kelly can have three more years at top fitness and effectiveness, then I think it will definitely be positive on the ledger. Fact is that Eagles badly need class on their roster to get wins and show the youngsters how its done. Going back to year zero didn't work for Melbourne and put them in the wilderness for many years.

[@BDub2024]

@@spindoctor6385 Yeh in the 90s Eagles were up there, but just slowly moved down the ladder as their side aged, instead of bringing in some guys and trying to win a third flag in 96 or 97. I think Nissie and co learnt that lesson and tried to snatch another flag. Without Kelly we would just not have had any decent midfielders in the last two years. Remember any players we missed out on would have been under 20 and struggled.

[@TheMemeMachineMatt]

WC made a major fumble making this deal. Geelong did excellently.

[@BDub2024]

Coming out of the video it doesn't appear we've missed out on much. Georgiades and Sharp and a chance of getting a number of players that may not have made it anyway. Or at the very least still be developing. The thing is that without Kelly we would have been far worse in the last two years. Eagles jumped in because they felt that they desperately needed midfielders in order to win another flag. Even at that point in time they were worried about their midfield depth. They played overs, but probably only one of those picks. Also, you have to remember they also got Bazzo and Ledwards from the picks as well that Geelong provided. If Kelly can have three more years at top fitness and effectiveness, then I think it will definitely be positive on the ledger. Fact is that Eagles badly need class on their roster to get wins and show the youngsters how its done. Going back to year zero didn't work for Melbourne and put them in the wilderness for many years.

[@damien6286]

Could you imagine how uncompetitive we would have been last year without Tim Kelly? Unless we were sharp enough to pick up Chad Warner I actually think the deal was the right call...

[@BDub2024]

agreed. georgiades and sharp aren't exactly stars either. i doubt they would have chosen warner anyway.

[@BDub2024]

Geelong really had no choice and had to trade Kelly. He was never going to stay.

[@HeatherCourtney19]

Had Tim Kelly played for Freo, he would have been a better player than he is with the Eagles.

[@peterlemonge]

Goodness me. The eagles drafted horribly over these few years so the likeliness they got all this guns is near impossible. These are the facts: Eagles Got: Tim Kelly 2019 Pick 52 (got pushed back to 58) Ben Johnson 2020 third round: (pick 52): Luke Edwards Eagles gave: 2019 Pick 14 (got pushed back to 16): Cooper Stephens 2019 Pick 24 (got pushed back to 27; Jeremy sharp 2019 Pick 33 (got pushed back to 38) : Nick Bryan 2020 pick 18: Ryan Angwin Safe to say even with Kelly’s reduced output, they won this trade easily.

[@EDD8209]

Cats wouldn’t have Cameron. Pretty much a direct swap.

[@jlrob85]

We got this one wrong plane and simple. Cant get them all right

[@Deathnote7969]

We wouldn't be as sh!t!

[@B33ond]

Tim Kelly was a flop

[@BDub2024]

He has been very good actually. But in his first two years he didn't play at the level required, compared with 22 and 23 where he has starred. the other thing is that we would have been down the bottom of the ladder in 2020 and 2021 which would have given us lower draft picks. Coming out of the video it doesn't appear we've missed out on much. Georgiades and Sharp and a chance of getting a number of players that may not have made it anyway. Or at the very least still be developing. The thing is that without Kelly we would have been far worse in the last two years. Eagles jumped in because they felt that they desperately needed midfielders in order to win another flag. Even at that point in time they were worried about their midfield depth. They played overs, but probably only one of those picks. Also, you have to remember they also got Bazzo and Ledwards from the picks as well that Geelong provided. If Kelly can have three more years at top fitness and effectiveness, then I think it will definitely be positive on the ledger. Fact is that Eagles badly need class on their roster to get wins and show the youngsters how its done. Going back to year zero didn't work for Melbourne and put them in the wilderness for many years.