Andrew Kellaway
By Chris Greenway

I promised you a player per week and that's what I intend to give. I noticed with the first two that I've been picking rather low numbered players. This week I decided to go to the other end of the spectrum. No 39. If you don't know who that is, shame on you and a smacked wrist! Andy Kellaway.

I actually saw Andy before he'd ever played a senior game and before he was even on our list. He spent a year as a supplementary list player before we picked him up. What always struck me was how much he was like his older brother Duncan. They don't just look alike, they play alike. Andy is taller and broader, but that's about it, they're even both shocking kicks.

Richmond selected Andy with pick no 70something that year in the draft. I was surprised that we were still able to get him at that point in the draft. I know they say clubs don't subvert the draft, but I'm pretty sure the word went out not to pick Andrew Kellaway, because the Tigers had him signed.

He made his debut halfway through the '98 season against Melbourne on Gary Lyon. Andy gave him an absolute bath. Lyon was a legend at Melbourne and a 200+ gamer and he was slaughtered by a debutant. I know Lyon was past his best, but it was still a fair effort. A few games after Andy's debut Duncan went down with his first ACL knee reconstruction. It was almost as if he never left. It was like he just swapped number 3 for 39 and kept on playing. Andrew was like a clone.

He had a bad '99, not entirely his fault I think. That was during Gieschen's era. The Giesch talked a good game, but he did not seem to know what to do with the players at his disposal. Preferring Proctor and Funcke to Torney was one of his more brilliant ideas....NOT!

With the arrival of Spud Andy's career took an upward swing. Being an old backman himself Spud liked Andy and nurtured him. In 2001 he was one of the league's most improved players and was named All Australian. As a little aside he's proved to be a very good goal keeper in the International Rules games against the Irish. Like most of the rest of the side he had a bad 2002, I'm not sure if this was because he carried an injury or the players around him weren't performing. This year he is back to his best and without his invaluable input we would not be sitting in the top four with 5 wins under our belt.

Agree? Disagree? Tell me about it! I'll post your comments here, too!