He is the forgotten man of not one, but two salary cap scandals. Perennial backup playmaker Luke Kelly was with the Melbourne Storm in 2010 and is now living it all again six years later at Parramatta.

When you remember 2010 you think of Storm CEO Brian Waldron, dubbed ‘King Rat’ at the time, heartbroken coach Craig Bellamy and their bounty of superstar players that included skipper Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Greg Inglis.

Nobody would blame you for not knowing Kelly was even there. With Cooper Cronk, Brett Finch and Gareth Widdop ahead of him on the depth chart, Kelly spent 2010 flying between Melbourne and Sydney in the Storm’s NSW Cup side.

Kelly was no more than a semi-familiar face, that kid from the Northern Territory. His NRL debut ironically came against the Eels at Parramatta Stadium in 2009. He sat on the bench in jersey number 20. Melbourne lost and it was his only appearance for the Storm pre-scandal. This would be his only taste of Melbourne’s “good times” before the shit hit the fan in early 2010. He was just another face in the crowd at ANZ Stadium as the Storm illegally clinched the premiership against those Eels again.

After only five more games for the Storm in the next two seasons Kelly moved on.

https://youtu.be/N5HCz07IF7k

With all due respect to Kelly – the Storm didn’t even notice.

Melbourne had just won the title against Canterbury.

He then walked into a mess at the Eels. The former powerhouse had just won the wooden spoon in ’12 and would claim the dreaded 16th spot again in Kelly’s first season in Sydney’s west.

What you won’t read about, probably ever, was the effort guys like Kelly put in through these dark times. Fighters like Kelly, Fui Fui Moi Moi and Tim Mannah. These were the men that kept standing up, kept jogging back to halfway after yet another try conceded.

And every try conceded, every forgettable flogging at Parramatta Stadium, made the Eels suits in the corporate boxes high above sweat just a little more.

Desperation and greed do funny things to men.

What Kelly didn’t know was that while he was earning an honest living as a reliable member of a terrible Eels squad, he would soon find himself in yet another cap saga.

The deception behind closed doors had begun.

Last season the Eels were hit with a fine of over half a million dollars and despite being in the form of his life, Kelly was forced to play NSW Cup because of second tier cap woes at the club.

At the time an unhappy Brad Arthur spoke of the unfortunate Kelly situation.

“I don’t know if Luke Kelly’s done enough not to be in our team.

“The last two weeks, out of our six tries we’ve scored, he set up five of them.

“He’s made a total of nearly 60 tackles and missed two.

“So he’s done pretty well. He stuck to our kicking plan.

“It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is.”

Enter Kieran Foran.

The Kiwi star’s switch across town from Manly had Eels fans wetting their lips. Enforcer Beau Scott and classy centre Michael Jennings tagged along. Corey Norman had the inside running to partner Foran in the halves and just like that Kelly was dead in the water.

He became the semi-familiar face from the Northern Territory again. And with a season-ending knee injury, Kelly has become the most intriguing fly on the wall in rugby league history.

One day Kelly will tell his story and what a story it is.

@woodward_curtis

Video Source: Youtube – trans 2020ccc