Luke Kelly (born 13 October 1989) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who most recently played for the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen pla ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

, as a or .

Background

Luke Kelly was born in

Katherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and Catherina, other variations are feminine Given name, names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria ...

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

, Australia. After starting out at the Katherine Bushrangers in the

Northern Territory Rugby League NRL Northern Territory (abbreviated as NRLNT, formerly the Northern Territory Rugby League) is the organisation responsible for administering the game of rugby league in the Northern Territory. It controls the Darwin Rugby League, Darwin Junior Ru ...

competition, Kelly then moved to boarding school in Sydney, playing at famed league nursery,

St Gregory's College, Campbelltown , motto_translation = What you sow, so shall you reap , established = , type = Independent single-sex and co-educational comprehensive and specialist primary and secondary day and boarding school , specialist = Agricultural s ...

. Kelly was discovered by Storm scouts at a NSWCCC tournament and, after one year with the

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly r ...

SG Ball The S. G. Ball Cup is a junior rugby league football competition played predominantly in New South Wales, between teams made up of players aged under 19. Teams from Canberra and Melbourne (Victoria Thunderbolts) also participate. Prior to the C ...

side, moved to Melbourne to play in the

NRL Under-20s The NRL Under-20s (known commercially as the Holden Cup due to sponsorship from Holden) was the top league of professional rugby league for players aged 20 years or younger in Australasia. Contested by sixteen teams, the Under-20s competition co ...

Playing career

Melbourne

Kelly was the captain of the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

winning team in 2009. He won the

Jack Gibson Jack Gibson may refer to: * Jack Gibson (rugby league) (1929–2008), Australian player and coach * Jack Stanley Gibson (1909–2005), Irish physician * Jack Gibson (ice hockey, born 1880) (1880–1955), ice hockey player and executive * Jack Gibson ...

Medal as player of the match in the Grand Final win over

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

. He had made his

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

debut for Melbourne against the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

in 2009 in round 17 of the

2009 NRL season The 2009 NRL season was the 102nd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the twelfth run by the National Rugby League. For the third consecutive year, sixteen teams competed for the 2009 Telstra Premiership ...

. Kelly played in four NRL games in 2010, three of these came in succession at the back-end of the season. He missed much of the 2011 season through injury, playing one further game for Melbourne in 2012.

Parramatta

Kelly joined the

mid-season in 2012 and made his debut for the club against the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith ...

in round 16, where Parramatta won 19-18. Kelly played 4 games for Parramatta in his first season at the club as they finished last on the table and claimed the wooden spoon for the first time since 1972. In June 2013, Kelly was one of 12 Parramatta players that were told that their futures at the club were uncertain by coach,

Ricky Stuart Ricky John Stuart (born 7 January 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Canberra Raiders in the NRL and a former rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He ...

. Kelly made a total of 18 appearances for Parramatta in the

2013 NRL season The 2013 NRL season was the 106th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia. The National Rugby League's main competition, named the 2013 Telstra Premiership after major sponsors Telstra Corporation, was contested by sixte ...

as the club finished last for a second consecutive year. Kelly was limited to only six appearances for Parramatta in the

2014 NRL season The 2014 NRL season was the 107th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 17th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand, for the Auckland Nines, replacing the Rugby Leagu ...

as the club narrowly missed out on the finals. On 16 May 2015, Kelly played his first game of the season against the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

. Kelly missed all 3 conversions including one right next to the uprights. With New Zealand leading by one point with 3 minutes to go Kelly kicked a field goal to make it 13-13. Parramatta lost the game in golden point 17-13.

South Sydney

In October 2016, Kelly signed with the

for the

2017 NRL season The 2017 NRL season was the 110th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 20th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, w ...

, as cover for regular halves

Adam Reynolds Adam Reynolds (born 10 July 1990), is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who captains and plays as a for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL. Reynolds played at representative level for the NRL All Stars, City New South Wales, ...

and Cody Walker. On 3 March 2017, Kelly made his debut for the

against the

in the first round of the

season. On 5 August 2017, Kelly scored an individual solo try in North Sydney's victory over Wests Tigers 42-10. On 1 September, Kelly was recalled to the Souths side to replace the injured

in the final game of the regular season against his former club Parramatta. At the end of the season it was announced on the official South Sydney website that Kelly was one of the players whose contract would not be renewed for next year and would be leaving the club. On 29 January 2018, Kelly announced that he had retired from Rugby League as a player and moved into a role behind the scenes as a player well-being manager at Souths.

References

External links

Parramatta Eels profileMelbourne Storm profile (archived)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Luke 1989 births Living people Australian rugby league players Indigenous Australian rugby league players Parramatta Eels players Melbourne Storm players South Sydney Rabbitohs players North Sydney Bears NSW Cup players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from the Northern Territory Wentworthville Magpies players