West Coast star Jeremy McGovern has joked that Geelong midfielder Tim Kelly can fly back with the Eagles if they win Friday night’s elimination final at the MCG.

Kelly is a prime recruiting target for the Eagles but they will first be trying to shut down the Brownlow Medal fancy in a do-or-die September clash.

Former Eagle and Hawthorn premiership player Xavier Ellis jokingly asked McGovern if the Geelong star would join the Eagles on the plane home if West Coast ended the Cats’ season on Friday night.

McGovern said: “I’d love him to, I’d love him to fly back”, before joking that the No.11 jumper is ready and waiting for him.

“We’ve seen (Fremantle forward) Jesse Hogan put up the No.11 … 11 is actually vacant for us,” McGovern said on hit929.

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“We’ve been waiting for him, so we don’t actually have to sack anyone from that position. The stars are aligning.

“But we’ve got to beat him this weekend.”

McGovern said the Eagles remained wary of Geelong, despite the Cats’ poor opening to September, losing to Collingwood in a qualifying final.

“They had one bad game last week, (but) they finished top of the ladder for a reason and they’re a good side,” the All-Australian defender said.

“They’re a good defensive side, a good contested side, and we’ll be preparing for that.

“We were in the same boat a couple of weeks ago when we played the Hawks.

“Everyone was writing us off completely and now we’ve beaten the Bombers on the weekend and all of a sudden we’re back.

“But not much has really changed, aside from a bad performance.”