“Really, over the journey I’ve probably played nearly 650 games,” he said.
“I played for Lavington in the Ovens and Murray league, I’ve been over and played at Glenelg, I’ve played a lot of interleague games and I played for Melbourne and Essendon in the AFL reserves.
“And that’s without another 50-odd games for the Greater Western Victoria Rebels and 150 in the juniors, so I’ve racked a few up over the years.”
Making his senior debut as a 13-year-old with Taylors Lake, Kelm said he had always been keen to test himself.
“Craig Heard was coaching out at Taylors Lake then, and hearing my name get called out for the first time in a forward pocket was a pretty big buzz,” he said.
“I was always driven to play footy. Like most young blokes, you were given a ball at a young age, and I just made something of it.”
Kelm has achieved plenty in his decorated career, winning the Toohey Medal as the Wimmera league’s best and fairest player in 1998, twice claiming the Hank Neil Medal as the league’s top reserves player in 2018 and 2019, and topping 100 goals in a season multiple times.
But cruelly, the one accolade Kelm sought above all others was the one that eluded him.
He took home the Binns Medal as the best player afield in the 2014 Wimmera league senior grand final, but his nine goals on the day were unable to drag the Saints across the line in a six-point loss to the Horsham Demons.
It was one of six losing senior grand final efforts Kelm appeared in.
The Saints finally broke through to claim the premiership the following year, but in another brutal twist of fate Kelm missed the game through injury.
Despite the individual accolades and four reserves premierships on his resume, Kelm said the lack of a senior flag was his biggest regret.
“That’s the one that, even when I’m moseying around the farm and I think about footy, I regret,” he said.
“It hit me hard when I missed out on those premierships in the seniors.
“That’s why I went back out to Taylors Lake for a year, just to mentally get away from it for a bit.
“Other than that, without wanting to feather my own nest too much, I’ve pretty much achieved most things.”
With a lengthy list of achievements to his name, Kelm said many onlookers expected him to retire.
But the veteran said he was enjoying himself too much to consider stopping.
“I always said to my mates even when I was 18 that I would play until I was 50,” he said.
“Basically, because I’ve been around for a long time, you just end up playing with a lot of different people over the journey.
“You make friends and those friendships continue. So that’s the biggest thing over the journey, is just the mateship.”
Kelm said he was also inspired to provide a role model for younger players.
“That was one thing I remember, being a young bloke and looking up to all the older fellas, and now I’m the one playing with my mates’ sons,” he said.
“I just try to provide leadership – to lead by example. Not really shying away from contests, providing voice and direction.
“If the younger Saints boys see me working my arse off to get touches, hopefully it spurs them along.”
And despite his advanced age relative to that of his competitors, Kelm has a simple metric to measure success.
“Over the journey a few players have asked when I’m retiring, but I reckon if I’m still getting more kicks than the opposition, then I’m doing something right,” he said.
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