Luke Kelly (rugby league) facts for kids
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Personal information
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| Born | 13 October 1989 Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia |
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Playing information
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| Height | 181 cm (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 86 kg (13 st 8 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Five-eighth, Halfback | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Luke Kelly, born on October 13, 1989, is a former Australian professional rugby league player. He played as a five-eighth or halfback, and his last team was the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Contents
Early Life and Junior Career
Luke Kelly grew up in Katherine, a town in the Northern Territory, Australia. He started playing rugby league with the Katherine Bushrangers in his home territory.
Later, he moved to a boarding school in Sydney. There, he played for St Gregory's College, Campbelltown, a school famous for its rugby league talent. Scouts from the Melbourne Storm team noticed him during a school tournament. After playing for the Western Suburbs Magpies' junior team for one year, he moved to Melbourne to join the Storm's NRL Under-20s team.
Professional Playing Career
Time with Melbourne Storm
In 2009, Luke Kelly was the captain of the Melbourne Storm's NRL Under-20s team. He led them to win the Grand Final that year. In the final game against the Wests Tigers, he was named the best player and received the Jack Gibson Medal.
Kelly also made his first appearance in the main NRL competition for Melbourne in 2009. This was in Round 17 of the 2009 NRL season against the Parramatta Eels. He played in a few more NRL games in 2010. However, he missed much of the 2011 season due to an injury. He played one more game for Melbourne in 2012.
Playing for Parramatta Eels
In the middle of the 2012 season, Kelly joined the Parramatta Eels. He played his first game for them in Round 16 against the Penrith Panthers, which Parramatta won 19-18. In his first season with the Eels, he played four games. The team finished last that year, which meant they received the "wooden spoon" for the first time since 1972.
In June 2013, the coach, Ricky Stuart, told Luke Kelly and 11 other Parramatta players that their future with the club was uncertain. Kelly played in 18 games for Parramatta during the 2013 NRL season. The team finished last again for the second year in a row.
In the 2014 NRL season, Kelly played in six games for Parramatta. The team just missed out on making the finals that year.
On May 16, 2015, Kelly played his first game of the season against the New Zealand Warriors. He missed three conversion kicks in that game. With only three minutes left and New Zealand leading by one point, Kelly kicked a field goal to tie the score at 13-13. However, Parramatta lost the game 17-13 in "golden point" extra time.
Joining South Sydney Rabbitohs
In October 2016, Kelly signed with the South Sydney Rabbitohs for the 2017 NRL season. He joined the team to provide backup for their main halfbacks, Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker.
On March 3, 2017, Kelly made his debut for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the first round of the NRL season against the Wests Tigers. On August 5, 2017, Kelly scored a great solo try in North Sydney's victory over Wests Tigers, with a final score of 42-10. On September 1, Kelly was called back into the Souths team to replace an injured Adam Reynolds. This was for the final game of the regular season against his former club, Parramatta.
At the end of the 2017 season, the South Sydney Rabbitohs announced that Luke Kelly's contract would not be renewed. This meant he would be leaving the club.
Retirement and New Role
On January 29, 2018, Luke Kelly announced that he had retired from playing professional rugby league. He then took on a new role behind the scenes at the South Sydney Rabbitohs. He became a player well-being manager, helping players with their lives off the field.
