Tim Kelly would be a better player at Fremantle if he chose to overlook West Coast and request a trade to their cross-town rivals, according to premiership player Xavier Ellis.

Kelly is expected to seek a move to the Eagles once Geelong’s season is over, but the Dockers have not given up hope of attracting the Brownlow Medal fancy to Cockburn.

While West Coast have achieved recent success with a deeper midfield, Ellis said Kelly would have more freedom to play an attacking game at the Dockers.

“He will find it harder playing for West Coast than he will for Fremantle,” Ellis said on the latest edition of the Hard Ball Gets AFL Show.

“West Coast are very well structured and disciplined to their structures.

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“Not so much at Freo. (Nat) Fyfe freestyles.

“Geelong are exactly the same. You don’t see Dangerfield and Selwood and those guys defending very hard.”

Ellis said the most accountable players at Hawthorn and West Coast were often the stars in the midfield and the stars in the forward line.

“They were so accountable that (teammates) were frightened not to do the right thing,” he said.

“The other two clubs, I’d be looking to run amok a little bit.”

This week on the Hard Ball Gets AFL Show, Ellis, Nick Rynne and Ryan Daniels look at what each team needs to do to improve in 2020. Listen to the full show in the below podcast.

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