EMERGING Greater Western Sydney development coach Luke Kelly has been awarded the prestigious Phil Walsh Memorial Scholarship for 2020.
The scholarship, created following the tragic death of then-Adelaide coach Walsh in July 2015, is handed out by the AFL Coaches Association.
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Kelly, who receives a $10,000 prize to help him with future study and travel costs, told AFL.com.au that being recognised by his fellow coaches made the award even more special.
"I'm very humbled, it's a massive boost for me as a younger coach starting out," he said.
"Any type of further education can cost a bit, so that money will be put towards my personal development.
"I plan to do something to do with teaching, learning or development here in Sydney or in the States, and there's always conferences to attend all over Europe too."
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Kelly started to pursue coaching as a teenager once he realised his dream to play in the AFL wasn't going to eventuate.
He's filled a host of footy roles and was part of the Bulldogs' 2016 premiership coaching group at both AFL and VFL level, before he moved to the Giants.
He will coach the GWS NEAFL midfield division in 2020.
Kelly has previously visited the San Francisco 49ers, Stanford University, the University of Southern California and the Anaheim Ducks, and said he got some great insight into his areas of expertise.
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"In the development space it really reinforced how good our development and teaching strategies are here in Australia," he said.
"We put a lot of time into the individual in all sorts of areas and the teaching side of things compared to a lot of the US-based sports.
"It also taught me that we have to use any extra resources to have the most impact because obviously we don't have the budgets of those programs."
Kelly has clear goals in mind as to where he wants his career path to eventually take him.
"Being a senior coach is the ultimate goal and now that I've got my foot in the door, that’s the progression I'm going along with," he said.
"There's no timelines on it, you just go to work and grind away and take every opportunity you can get to make yourself better."
Previous winners of the Phil Walsh Memorial Scholarship are Ben Rutten (then Richmond assistant coach), Adrian Hickmott (West Coast), Aaron Greaves (Port Adelaide) and Damien Truslove (GWS).
