West Coast star Tim Kelly makes sad admission about football following Eagles' shock dip in form

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West Coast midfielder Tim Kelly admitted that he has fallen out of love with footy in recent years.

Amid the Eagles horror slump in form over the past few years, ongoing contract talks and issues with injuries, the 30-year-old admitted he was just trying to 'fall back in love with the game.'

His contract with the West Coast will run out at the end of the 2025 season. Rumours circulated during the trade period that Kelly could switch back to joining the Eagles' rivals, Fremantle.

But doubts continue to revolve over the 2019 All-Australian's future at the footy club, with reports from The West Australian claiming that Kelly and the Eagles have not yet opened up talks over a deal for the roving midfielder, who joined the club from Geelong back in 2020.

Pressed on his contract situation ahead of this week's Indigenous All-Stars match, the 2023 John Worsfold medallist opened up on what's been a difficult few years at the footy club.

'It is probably something that'll work itself out, my manager (Anthony Van Der Wielen) works pretty hard in that space,' Kelly said on securing a deal to extend his contract.

Tim Kelly has claimed he has 'fallen out of love with footy' after the West Coast star opened up on the Eagles' slump in form over the past few years 

Speculation has also revolved around Kelly's (pictured with his partner Caitlin Miller) contract situation 

Kelly has made 96 appearances for the Eagles, notably returning 31 goals for the footy club

'To be honest, for me, it's about honing in on what I've got to do, get my body right… my love of the game hasn't been great over the last couple of years.

'There's a lot of contract talk and this and that but I'm just trying to love the game again. And hopefully that comes.'

Kelly admitted to The West Australian that he had played through a knee injury for most of last season, making 20 appearances for the club, and returning four goals.

The West Coast have failed to finish outside of the bottom three in the AFL ladder in their last three seasons and have staggeringly only managed to win 10 games.

Their poor vein of form saw the club part companies with premiership-winning coach Adam Simpson.

'It's been a tough few years and I'm not the only one,' Kelly said.

'Everyone here has been working really hard and not getting much reward.'

'It's been frustrating, to say the least, but it's got to turn around eventually so we'll see how we go.'

Kelly re-affirmed that he was not thinking about his contract situation, adding that he was just keen to enjoy his footy again.

'Again, I'm not even really thinking about it (my contract).

Kelly (pictured with Coen Livingstone, left) is set to star in this weekend's Indigenous All-Stars match

He extinguished claims that he could retire soon and opened up on life under new coach Andrew McQualter 

'You probably think you probably are but I'm actually not. I'm just trying to get my body right and get back to having fun.'

He also extinguished any claims that he could retire soon.

'I don't think I am necessarily thinking like that,' he said.

'But again, we'll see how it all plays out.'

Kelly opened up on what it's been like training under new boss Andrew McQualter adding that he'd been enjoying the process of working under the new boss but was eager to get stuck into the new season.

'Mini has been great, he and the coaching staff are doing a hell of the job with the program at the moment,' Kelly said.

'Everything is kind of new. It's the same game but a new language, a different game plan and all of that. I'm just enjoying the process at the moment.

'As a group, we're getting the point where we're sick of playing against each other and that, so the next step is obviously to do it against real opposition.'