The gloves are about to come off in the battle to woo Brownlow Medal contender Tim Kelly.

Up to now there’s been some shadow boxing between Geelong and West Coast.

A deal couldn’t be struck at the end of last season, but nearing the end of his second year in the AFL Kelly holds the upper hand in deciding his future and that of his family,who have struggled to cope without their WA support network.

West Coast will struggle to fit Kelly into their bulging salary cap. Lurking in the background are Fremantle.

We all know Kelly’s manager Anthony Van Der Wielen has previously declared his client wouldn’t entertain becoming a Docker, but make no mistake, if Kelly doesn’t stay with the Cats he WILL be wearing purple next year.

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A fair bit has to fall into place, but there is one emerging player at Fremantle who could provide critical bargaining power — and he just happens to hail from Geelong.

Sean Darcy is a talented young ruckman who returns from injury to play in tomorrow’s crunch clash with fellow top-eight contenders Port Adelaide at Optus Stadium tomorrow, just his third match for the year.

The 202cm giant, who turned 21 on Wednesday, has been at the Dockers for nearly three seasons and was being groomed to take over from club great Aaron Sandilands. As it’s turned out, Rory Lobb has carried the ruck for most of 2019 until he broke down.

So, a big finish to the season for Darcy is imperative, from a personal and team point of view. A straight swap between Kelly and Darcy won’t get the job done for the Cats, who are short on rucking options.

Camera Icon Tim Kelly is a marked man. Credit: Getty Images

Peter Bell and the Freo football operations department know that. But dangle another carrot in front of the league leaders, be it an extra player or draft picks, and Geelong could pick up the phone.

It’s still hard to believe it was sixth time lucky at AFL level for Kelly,who first nominated for the draft in 2012 but had to wait another five years before the Cats called out his name.

Not in his wildest dreams would he have thought his No.11 jumper would be doing a roaring trade in the Geelong team store, vying for favouritism with the likes of Joel Selwood, Patrick Dangerfield or Gary Ablett.

It’s not often a player who could win the Brownlow and a premiership in the same year effectively has one foot out the door of his club mid-season, but that seems to be the case.

For mine, Fremantle are well placed to land the knockout blow and deliver an A-lister in 2020.