Declan Kelly’s return inspires from afar
AFL CAIRNS
IT'S not often a bloke playing his first game of the year at a club more than 3000km away can overshadow a local football match.
Yet there is a sense of that tomorrow with Port Douglas favourite Declan Kelly set to run out for Victorian club Dalyston in the West Gippsland Football League.
Kelly, a dual premiership star for the Crocs, hasn’t played since a horrific workplace accident in Port Douglas left him blind in one eye.
He moved home to Wonthaggi earlier this year to be closer to his family, and his return to footy is being celebrated with delight in the tropical north.
The popular Kelly said he was looking forward to resuming his football career unsure of how his loss of vision will affect him.
He can still see the ‘shadow of a hand’ in the light, ‘but that’s about it’.
“How hard it’s going to be to play footy, I guess I’ll soon find out,” he told Newsport today.
“It’s just one of those things that will take some time. There are plenty of people out there playing football that are worse off than me.
“There’s no use crying about it, I just have to get on with it.”
As the Crocs prepare to face Centrals Trinity Beach at the Port Douglas Sporting Complex tomorrow, captain Kye Chapple admitted there was a special thought being reserved for their former star who dominated down back in the AFL Cairns competition.
In fact, as Chapple revealed, they do every week.
“Before every game we have his jumper hanging up above where we run out onto the field,” he said.
“So every Saturday we all touch his jumper on the way out. We think about him every game.
“We wish him all the best for tomorrow, he’s probably one of the only blokes that could still play at a high level with one eye.”
Chapple, who again leads the Crocs attack with 42 goals, said they had found it difficult to replace Kelly.
“We are missing him heaps both on and off the field,” he said.
“Just his leadership down back and the caliber of player that he is, he’s virtually impossible to replace.
“He was our general. He’d play on the best forward every week and usually shut them down.”
Kelly will wear specially made protective eyewear in front of a home crowd at the Dalyston Recreation Reserve, just out of Wonthaggi, where he is a former best-and-fairest winner.
“I’ll have a bit of Horace Grant about me,” he said, referring to the NBA legend famous for his colourful goggles.
And more than 3000km away at the most northern club on the east coast, he’ll have another home crowd cheering him on.
AFL CAIRNS - ROUND 11
Saturday 16 June, 2pm
Port Douglas v Centrals Trinity Beach
Port Douglas Sporting Complex
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