West Coast youngster Oscar Allen says Tim Kelly has arrived at the club in “great nick” and predicted he would fit into the midfield well as the Eagles first to fourth year players kicked off their pre-season at Mineral Resources Park this morning.

Allen, who will not resume full training himself for a few weeks as he completes his recovery from knee surgery to clean up a meniscus issue at the end of the season, said he had known Kelly since the pair went through the 2017 draft process together.

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“We are stoked. He will be out here training and doing a couple of drills with us. He looks in great nick and he is a ripping bloke,” Allen said.

“I got to meet him two years ago when we were in the draft together and were all at the combine. We know the quality of player that he is and the talent that he will bring to the side.

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“He seems to have settled really nicely back home.”

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Allen said the key for Kelly was to fit into the Eagles midfield system.

“One thing we are big on is playing our role. We saw that in 2018 Dom Sheed wasn’t in the team for a while because he didn’t fit into the system that we had. We are all about playing our role and he will fill in and fit into our midfield really well,” he said.

Allen also confirmed the Eagles players would continue to put support around forward Liam Ryan after racist social media posts targeted both he and his daughter last week.

“As a club we are really disappointed. It is really sad that in this modern day there are still people that have these mindset,” Allen said.

“We have got Liam’s back and we will support him as much as we can. As a player group it is important we support him and our fans as well. Liam is a really good family man and a great person. It is a really sad that he has to deal with stuff like that.”

Allen said he had learned from a disappointing end to the season which saw him out of the team at finals time after battling his knee issue.

“I had a little bit of a meniscus issue with it towards the end of last year and I carried it for a period of time and then couldn’t get up (for games) and wasn’t recovering as well towards the end of last year,” he said.

“I had a little bit of surgery to clean it out but it is feeling really good at the moment.

“It was obviously disappointing but I know my form wasn’t as good as it could have been. The people who came in and played were terrific. I think Jake Waterman had a ripper season from front to end and really played well in the AFL side when the season finished up.

“I am building into when the main group comes back. I will be in most of the drills and ready to play once the season starts.

“I probably won’t be doing everything but it is nothing serious and by Christmas I will be all guns blazing. It is nothing to worry about.”

Camera Icon Oscar Allen grapples with North Melbourne big man Todd Goldstein in the ruck. Credit: Getty Images

He was yet to talk to Adam Simpson about a likely role next year but said he would throw himself into any challenge that was put to him.

“I have played a lot of forward and back in my time and even the ruck work – I wasn’t doing any of that at this time last year. Whatever position I get asked to play I will just jump in and give it a crack.”