Kelly is one of the few footballers whose genuine hardness at the footy is blended with raw skill and polish.
It is a little far-fetched to say the Cats would have been a two-goal better side that September night, but there is no doubt Kelly adds a touch of class to the onball department.
"It's a bit of a what if, you're sort of thinking if I was out there maybe I could've done something but you never know, maybe I could've been out there having the worst game and cost the team so I didn't really think about that,'' Kelly said.
"It was very hard to watch, being part of the team and for the whole year I was really just playing to play finals.
"I was in the stands with Brenton Sanderson in the preliminary final, who was out with heart problems, and we both found it very hard to watch, and I think Sando more so because he's been playing with the team a lot longer than I have.
"Seeing the boys out there having so much success was almost enough for me and it's not like we're not going to play finals again, hopefully we'll be up there again next year and in years to come so I don't think I'll miss out on playing finals.''
His coach Mark Thompson has no doubt Kelly will be a September star in due course.
"He certainly would have helped us (in the finals), but the way he plays he'll end up being a fantastic finals player, it was just unfortunate that he couldn't be a part of it,'' Thompson said.
"Some players you just know will perform in September - don't ask me what the characteristics are, but players who can run with the ball and get the ball in a variety of ways.
"We did miss him, he was a pretty good player for us up until round 13 and it was just unfortunate that his mates got to play three finals games and he didn't have any, but he'll play a lot of finals footy in years to come.''
His shocking round 14 injury came at the exact time James Bartel's star began to shine, so Geelong is yet to see their two best young onballers firing simultaneously.
"We better separate them at training, but they're both going to play a lot of footy together,'' Thompson said.
Kelly has no doubt he will be ready to take the field in the Wizard Cup, but do not expect the sickening injury to send Kelly into his shell.
The 20-year-old will be crashing the packs at 86kg - 3kg above last season's playing weight - the time off allowing him to beef up the upper body.
Kelly resumed light running last week with full-scale training pencilled in for post-Christmas, with the recovery travelling better than expected.
"It made me think if I was in the same situation again I'd probably do the same thing, it doesn't really scare me or bother me at all, it's just one of those things, you play footy you get injured,'' he said.
"The Wizard Cup is more than realistic, I'll be fine, after Chritmas I'll be doing full scale training and I'll have no side effects so once I'm up and running I don't have to worry about it any more.
"I've spent a lot of time in the weights room on the upper body...I played at 83-84kg last year and my running was still fine so I'll play as heavy as I can, if I'm fit I'm fit no matter how much I weigh."
"It helps and it's a lot different to when I was playing in my first year, it gives you a lot more confidence on the ball and it gives you a lot more confidence to play on the more experienced players.''
Kelly will return to the track under the guidance of new midfield coach Andy Lovell, and while admitting Daryn Creswell is a big loss, his philosophies remain.
"He gave the whole midfield group confidence and a licence to back ourselves and go after games, attack the opposition midfield, where before we were going defensive and trying to shut them down. He taught us a good balance between attack and defence,'' Kelly said.
"But the same as Benny (Graham), Cressa wasn't winning games for us and it's fine, he'll have his career (at Brisbane) and Andy will do well down here and we'll do well.'"
