Kellaway's kella instinct
03 June 2006 Herald Sun
Jon Anderson
UNLESS Andrew Kellaway's neighbours are rabid Richmond fans, they probably haven't a clue the quiet bloke next door is a key player on the biggest football stage in Australia.
That's the Richmond defender's way: unobtrusive, understated to the point of shyness, yet someone who gets the job done once the whistle blows.
Unlike outgoing teammates such as Nathan Brown, Brett Deledio and Matthew Richardson, Kellaway is someone who'll never have his own highlights DVD on the shelves at Kmart.
And he won't want it. Football is a game he plays well enough to make a good living from, although the thought of sitting down and watching it when his career is over amuses the 30-year-old, who came through Glen Waverley Rovers, Caulfield Grammar and Sandringham on his way to making his Richmond debut in 1998.
He'd rather be catching a wave at Phillip Island or Cape Paterson, surfing becoming a passion when a cousin lent him a board on a family holiday at Phillip Island.
Now he gets down the east coast as often as possible, sometimes with teammate Trent Knobel and once with tough Tiger midfielder Chris Newman.
"It wasn't a good day. We (he and Knobel) actually thought for one minute we'd killed him (Newman). We took him to this break that wasn't ideal for a beginner and he went under," said Kellaway, still getting a kick out of the story a year later.
"I kept thinking, `How am I going to drive home and tell Terry Wallace I've helped lose one of his best midfielders?'.
"Chris got to the beach pretty quickly. Trent went to see how he was. I couldn't because I was laughing too much. That was after I knew he was going to be OK. He hasn't been back."
Kellaway's importance to Richmond is best summed up by a statistic that coach Wallace is fond of quoting.
It concerns the Tigers' win-loss ratio when defender Kellaway is absent, a figure that under Wallace reads just one win from seven games, and one from 13 since 2004.
The major talking point after Richmond's remarkable turnaround – beating premiership favourite Adelaide a week after its 118-point mauling from Sydney – was Wallace's radical keepings-off game plan. What didn't get any credit was the return of Kellaway after a week out, despite the fact he was clearly best on the ground in the first half as the Tigers set up what was to become a match-winning lead when Wallace hit the stop button after halftime.
"He has become a very valuable contributor and we wouldn't be the same side without him, but when I arrived at the club I didn't know where he sat," Wallace said.
"He appeared slow, lacking run and extremely down in confidence. Just a lost soul. He had been playing a bit of full-back in 2004 when `Gas' (Darren Gaspar) was out injured and it didn't suit him. We were encouraging him and he took a while to take it on, probably because he was so down on confidence. We explained we wanted him up the ground a bit and his run started to improve.
"Then as soon as we played a practice game I knew he was going to play good football. He's a courageous, natural footballer who makes the right decisions. And despite being so quiet, he's one of the funniest blokes at the club."
If it interests 190cm Kellaway, he doesn't show it, just as he doesn't go into raptures when speaking about himself.
Asked to nominate his best year with the Tigers he responds: "2000 I was all right".
That was the year he won the club best-and-fairest, was named All-Australian and starred for Australia in the International Rules Series in Ireland.
Playing as goalkeeper, Kellaway was outstanding in Australia's 2-0 series sweep, just as he was two years later in Ireland when the visitors won again.
When these achievements are mentioned Kellaway becomes uncomfortable, shuffling his feet under the table in the Richmond boardroom.
And with 165 games to his name, including some his best in the Tigers' injury-depleted backline this year, the reality is Kellaway won't change. He'd rather talk about anything but himself. Such as the increased pace of the game, Telstra Dome or flooding.
"I've noticed the increased pace of the game, this year in particular. If you're not running both ways it's inhibiting to the team," he said.
"Yes, there are more rotations to cope with it, but I feel sorry for half-forwards sometimes because if they don't have an impact they are straight off.
"At Telstra Dome and smaller grounds, if I can't kick it to someone who's free to mark, then you are just going to kick down the line and it's going to come back, twice as quick, over your head.
"It's hard, that long kick down the line has been taken out of it. You have to be so spot-on with your kicks, either to someone free or just behind you.
"You have to move it quick, you've got to get those loose blokes out of there, go in there and make them accountable, but then there's 30 blokes inside the 50m."
As secure as he now is in the Tigers defence, Kellaway readily admits after a so-so 2004 he wasn't feeling overly confident when Wallace arrived.
"In 2004 I had a quiet year then broke my collarbone. I wondered if I was going to be part of his plans, but he was very up-front. I wasn't left wondering, he told me I could work into a place but it certainly wasn't guaranteed."
Kellaway is a player who is sometimes accused of poor disposal, something he knows comes from being the younger brother of Duncan, who was known more for his courage than his kicking skills.
But Tiger supporters will tell you Andrew doesn't miss many targets coming out of defence. And he is not immune to sneaking into the forward line for a shot at goal, with a perfect record of 1.0 this year after snagging a crucial goal from the boundary in the Tigers' narrow win over Essendon.
He describes himself as an average kick, not elite like teammates Deledio and Brown, but not bad, either.
While he doesn't nominate or know how long he'll be part of it, Kellaway sees a bright future for the Tigers, with 2004 draftees Deledio, Dean Polo, Richard Tambling, Adam Pattison and Danny Meyer adding so much.
"That group have all come in and played very competitive football. We know how good Deledio is but Polo just has these long arms that get to areas nobody else can.
"Meyer is getting a feel for it and will end up a good midfielder, whereas Tambling could just about play wherever he wants to. He has his confidence now and is a different player.
"Pattison is different because he's a ruckman/forward but he's very fit and plays his role in the team. They are part of 35 players to be used this year and that will be good for the club down the track."
Once it's over Kellaway doesn't know where life will take him. Unlike his brothers, who are both physiotherapists, he doesn't see himself in a profession at this stage, claiming "they got the brains".
He has a Bachelor of Business in property valuation but doesn't show great enthusiasm for that vocation.
My guess? He'll be somewhere near a beach, living anonymously with a surfboard as his sporting companion instead of a red leather ball.
My nephews are all mad
JOHN Beckwith, despite being a dual Melbourne premiership player, club best-and-fairest winner and Demons Team of the Century member, often defers to his wife Bev when assessing footballers.
Beckwith, 73, reckons his wife can judge a footballer as well as most and goes back 15 years to when she was watching her nephew Andrew Kellaway play at Melbourne High.
"She turned and said, `I think he'll be the best of the three', meaning Andy and his older brothers Lachie and Duncan," Beckwith said this week.
"Duncan played 180 games with Richmond and Lachie was a very clever footballer, a bit slow but unlucky not to play AFL football. But Bev was sure Andy was going to be best.
"At junior level, Lachie was a tremendous player but Andy is just one of those guys who goes out and gets the job done.
"And, like his brothers, he has no fear. They are all mad that way. Mad, game as Ned Kelly, but great young blokes. In my day (1951-60, 176 games) we had a lot of players who were labelled tough, when in fact they were cowards.
"Blokes who got all the press as big, tough men who would hit you with a round-arm swing. Andy doesn't worry about that nonsense and he doesn't talk, never lets 'em know what he's thinking."
Beckwith's wife Bev is a sister of Peter Kellaway, the father of Lachie, Duncan and Andrew.
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