Tim Kelly will shake off disappointment and go again

Geelong midfielder Tim Kelly may ask the Cats if he can begin his pre-season in Perth after his bid to play for West Coast in 2019 failed according to his manager Anthony van der Wielen.

Although disappointed that a trade could not be finalised before Wednesday's deadline, Kelly holds no bitterness towards the Cats for their strong stance during the trade period.

Tim Kelly

Tim KellyCredit:AAP

With pre-season training likely to commence in November before an industry-wide three-week break over Christmas, Kelly's manager is hoping to explore the prospect of the 24-year-old joining the group post-Christmas.

"We are thinking he could probably start his pre-season in Perth and then not join the rest of the team until January," van der Wielen told Fairfax Media.

"Geelong proposed that to us early in the year and we have to follow up on that in the next couple of days once all the dust settles.

"That is one possibility for him."

Geelong held a consistent position throughout the negotiation refusing to accept anything less than a future first-round pick and the Eagles' picks 20 and 22.

The Eagles were prepared to offer 20, 22 and a future second-round pick but unwilling to go beyond that.

Part of the reason the Cats refused to budge was due to the fact the defending premiers would gain another classy midfielder at a low wage if they relented, with Kelly's income as a second year player mandated by the collective bargaining agreement.

At the end of the negotiation Cats list manager Stephen Wells said the club was confident Kelly would once again perform at a high level in 2019 and the midfielder had made that clear in conversations with coach Chris Scott, who is overseas, earlier this week.

"There is no bitterness or anything like that," van der Wielen said.

"Tim is disappointed he didn't get where he wanted to be but we always knew it was going to be a bit of a long shot.

"[Geelong] put a fairly high price on his head and West Coast were prepared to pay a high price but there was a limit."

His value skyrocketed this season when he finished second in the Cats' best-and-fairest in his first season after Geelong selected him with pick 24 in the 2017 national draft.

Although the family reasons behind Kelly's desire to return to Perth were legitimate, Kelly did not want to join Fremantle making it clear he would either be with West Coast or continue his career at the Cats.

"We were certainly always preparing him for the likelihood of staying at Geelong," Kelly said.

Both Fremantle football manager Peter Bell and West Coast list manager Brady Rawlings made it clear they would be interested in securing Kelly at the end of next season when he comes out of contract.

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