After 53 games at the top level, Crows defender Jake Kelly finally slotted his first ever AFL goal in Adelaide’s 104-point win over Carlton on Saturday night.
The 23-year-old’s snap in the dying minutes of the Crows’ dominant win even had the side’s typically calm coach Don Pyke up and about, along with the Adelaide bench.
Kelly has spent most of his football career in the backline but was sent forward in the final quarter and got himself on the scoreboard.
Following a contest with Carlton’s Ciaran Byrne, he chased down the footy to run into an open goal.
“It was amazing… it was set up from the first rotation that I go forward for the last 15 minutes and I was lucky enough to get on the end of one,” he told Fox Footy post-match on Saturday night.
As he approached the goal square, he had key forward Josh Jenkins in his ear.
“Josh said run all the way in so I said ‘righto’ and then as you saw I nearly got mowed down so I would have had a fair few demons for the rest of my career if I’d missed that,” he said.
It was evident how much it meant to the former Victorian as he embraced veteran Bryce Gibbs in celebration before he was engulfed by his teammates.
The son of Collingwood premiership defender Craig Kelly said he had no idea Pyke was intending to send him forward.
“I’ve missed two before so I was a bit worried but I don’t want to get a name for myself missing goals so I was a bit rattled going down there but luckily it was an easy one in the end”
Post-match, Don Pyke said Adelaide’s coaching staff had been talking about playing the tackling machine up forward all year.
“We’ve got a guy who’s got elite running, is a competitive guy who tackles and puts really good pressure on so we saw an opportunity to push him forward in the last quarter,” he said.
“I was aware he hadn’t kicked a goal so it was kind of like here’s your chance to get down there and see what you can do.
“It’s always an exciting moment when a guy kicks his first goal.”
