A former AFL assistant coach with over a decade of experience at the game’s highest level will guide Leopold in its quest for a hat-trick of GFNL premierships.
Luke Kelly has been appointed as the replacement for Geelong great Garry Hocking, who stepped down following the Lions’ second consecutive grand final win over South Barwon.
Kelly has most recently spent three years as an assistant midfield coach at Port Adelaide.
“Luke comes to us straight out of the AFL system with Port Adelaide this year, where he has been an assistant coach under the Ken Hinkley-coached Power for the last three years, with a focus on stoppage/midfield and the club’s overall training and education program,” Leopold president Aaron Verlin said in a statement.
A St Joseph’s College graduate, Kelly completed a Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science at Ballarat-based Federation University.
During that time, he started working with Talent League club Geelong Falcons.
After three years as a stats coordinator with the Falcons, he joined the Western Bulldogs as an analyst.
The Dogs’ drought-breaking premiership capped Kelly’s five years at Whitten Oval in 2016, after which he joined the GWS Giants.
At the Giants, he served as senior performance analyst while also spending time as team defence coach, development coach and VFL coach.
Kelly joined the Power ahead of the 2022 season, working with the likes of Connor Rozee, Zak Butters, Ollie Wines and Jason Horne-Francis.
Kelly is the seventh new GFNL appointment for 2025, joining Seb Ross (Colac), Brett Henderson (Lara), Steve Johnson (Newtown & Chilwell), Mark Hounslow (North Shore), Rick Munn (St Albans), and Ben Boseley (St Mary’s).
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