Adelaide defender Jake Kelly is embracing the advice of coach Don Pyke to reignite his passion for football.

Speaking to the media on Monday, Kelly admitted he found himself struggling to find his love for the game at the end of a challenging year in 2018.

Kelly sat down with Pyke at the close of the season to find a better way to balance his football career with his personal life.

“Twelve months ago, it was obviously a different year for us and we had our struggles internally, which were widely documented,” Kelly said.

“We had conversations about how I could enjoy my football more so Don and I sat down and talked about things I could put in place, outside of footy.

“I said to him [Don] I needed to work out what I wanted to do with my life.

“For me, football is just a part of my life, it’s not the main thing - I think if you get too caught up in its quite dangerous.”

This year, Kelly has adopted a new mindset.

“If I play a poor game or do something in a previous week [I’m not happy with] I’ll put that behind me,” he said.

“I have a very clear presence on each game and don’t look at what I’ve done in the past or what can happen in the future.

“It’s played a part that we’re going better this year, but also I’ve changed things that have helped my mindset off the field.

“I’ve been doing work experience at JLL commercial real estate on my day off in the week, which has been great for me.”

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Kelly has taken a significant step back from watching football, a far cry from the 6-8 games he would watch every week in previous years.

“I don’t like sitting down and watching the footy anymore to be honest, I find it stressful and analyse it more than I used to as a kid”

“I love the game and I love playing it, but when I sit down to watch a game of footy now, I’m not in love with it.”

Kelly also found comfort in moving in with teammate Reilly O’Brien in Unley.

“I moved house too, which really helped, I moved in with Reilly O’Brien so that’s been another really big move from me”

“He’s [O’Brien] interesting, he’s a big eater, very good on the tooth.”

“Going from Grange to Unley, I think it’s a bit more like Melbourne and reminded me of home more.”