Stuart Kelly

Stuart Kelly (born 4 February 1976) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He played for the Gold Coast Seagulls, Parramatta Eels and the Brisbane Broncos in the Australian first grade premiership competition. His position of choice was usually at centre or wing. Kelly was a member of The Parramatta side's that made 3 preliminary finals in a row but ultimately fell short of a grand final appearance.

Playing career

In 1996, Kelly joined Parramatta and became a regular fixture in the team over the next 5 years.

In 1998, Kelly played in all but 1 of the club's matches as they finished 4th on the table and qualified for the finals. Kelly played in all of Parramatta's finals games including the heartbreaking preliminary final loss against Canterbury-Bankstown.

With Parramatta leading 18-2 with less than 10 minutes to play, Canterbury staged a comeback scoring 3 tries in 8 minutes with Canterbury player Daryl Halligan kicking 2 goals from the sideline to tie the game at 18-18. Parramatta player Paul Carige then made a series of personal errors which cost Parramatta dearly in extra time with Canterbury going on to win 32-20.

In 1999, Parramatta finished 2nd and qualified for the finals again. Parramatta once more reached the preliminary final against Melbourne. Parramatta lead the match 16-0 at halftime before a second half capitulation occurred similar to the year earlier with Melbourne winning the game 18-16.

In 2000, Kelly played 28 games as Parramatta reached their 3rd straight preliminary final against Brisbane. That season, the club was dubbed the "Baby Eels" by the media with the average of the squad being 23 years old. Parramatta lost the match 16-10 against the eventual premiers. This in turn would prove to be Kelly's last match for Parramatta and he joined Brisbane for the 2001 season.

Wikipedia