Kelly wises up after early lesson

It hasn't been all smooth sailing for Craig Kelly. Source: Herald Sun

ELITE Sports Properties boss Craig Kelly is seen as the ultimate success story - premiership footballer, seminal player manager, and the man who sold his business for $17.5 million and then bought it back for $2 million.

But Kelly says his recent successes have masked his rocky journey with money, one that made him determined to show players there was a better way.

Kelly came from a 1000ha farm an hour north of Adelaide that was the pride of his family.

As his football career was taking off, the family finances were turning pear-shaped.

"We had a beautiful property with two beautiful houses on it, and I came over in 1989," Kelly said.

"By 1990 we had lost the whole farm. Interest rates went from nine to 19 per cent and my mum and dad started a business that went bad. We just went belly up."

Still it wasn't enough of a wake-up call.

"I bought a Ford Maverick 4WD, a house in Charles St, Abbotsford, and I paid $121,000 for it and then interest rates went from 9 to 19 per cent," he said.

Upon his return from a European jaunt after Collingwood's 1990 flag win he was confronted by his bank manager.

"He said, 'What the f--k are you doing', and ripped shreds off me," Kelly said.

Eventually he restructured his finances but said he retired from football having only broken even.

Yet he had a plan - his marketing work with Collingwood helped him segue into the burgeoning sports management business.

Kelly and his player managers now tell players to save hard, invest in bricks and mortar, and plan their exit strategy from footy.

"You have to lose it to appreciate having it," he said.

"You don't want to put yourself in that situation again. It drives you to want to get it right."

Kelly said there was no excuse for AFL players not to get a head start in life.

"Lose the perception of smashing it out of the park," he said.

"You should come out 10 years ahead of the rest, even if you are only 22 years old.

"Lots of people in the AFL have lost their fortunes, but if we are working at a 90 per cent success rate and you come out 10 years ahead, the industry is going OK."

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