Playing Career
Vital Statistics
- Full Name
- William Martin Kelly
- Born
- 1891
- Died
- Tuesday, 1st July, 1975
- Place Of Birth
- Westport, West Coast, New Zealand
Biography
When the ANZac Test was instituted by Super League in April 1997 it was decided to name the ‘Best and Fairest’ medal after Bill Kelly – the first (of only two to date) player to represent both NZ and Australia in rugby league (the NRL named the ANZac Test trophy after Kelly in 1998). A dual international in his native NZ, Kelly toured Australia in 1912-13 before joining Balmain in 1914. The same year he made his debut for his adopted country as a centre in the First Test against England. While this was to be his only Test appearance, Kelly played for NSW in 1915 and captain-coached the Tigers during an undefeated season that secured the club its first premiership. Injuries suffered whilst fighting in Belgium during World War One curtailed his playing career but after his retirement he was regarded as the 'Prince of Coaches', coaching University (1923-24), Newtown (1936-37), Balmain (1938-43 including a grand final win over Souths in 1939), St George (1944), C’bury (1945) and NZ against England (1933).
- ALAN WHITICKER
Playing Career Statistics
All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.
To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.
Competitions | ||||||||||||||
| Competition | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tour Matches | New Zealand | 13 | 12 | - | - | 36 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 38.46% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | Wellington | 2 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | Hawke's Bay | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| NRL | 27 | 16 | - | - | 48 | 18 | 3 | 6 | 66.67% | List | ||||
| Tour Matches | Metropolis | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | New South Wales Firsts | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | Australia | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| Test Series | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
| The Ashes | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
| City Cup | 2 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
| Interstate Matches | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
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Test Matches - By Team | ||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
| Australia | 1914 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
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Australia - By Team | ||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
| Hawke's Bay | 1912 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| Wellington | 1912-13 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| Metropolis | 1914-15 | 3 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
| NSW Firsts | 1914-15 | 3 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
| Overall | 1912-1915 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 66.67% | List | |||
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NRL/NSWRL - By Year | ||||||||||||||
| Team | Season | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
| Balmain | NSWRFL 1914 | 13 | 7 | - | - | 21 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 46.15% | List | |||
| Balmain | NSWRFL 1915 | 14 | 9 | - | - | 27 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 85.71% | List | |||
NRL/NSWRL - By Team | ||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
| Balmain | 1914-15 | 27 | 16 | - | - | 48 | 18 | 3 | 6 | 66.67% | List | |||
Contributions:
Greg Fiveash, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, Rugby League Tables
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