Tim Kelly: West Coast Eagles recall veteran midfielder for clash with North Melbourne Kangaroos

West Coast have recalled veteran midfielder Tim Kelly for their winnable clash against North Melbourne at Optus Stadium on Sunday. Kelly was the shock omission from the Eagles’ season-opening loss to Gold Coast, travelling as an emergency. The West Australian revealed the 31-year-old has earned a recall to take on the Kangaroos as part of a team that will also welcome back co-captain Liam Baker and key defender Harry Edwards. West Coast have already dropped premiership defender Tom Cole after he struggled down back against the Suns, while draftee Josh Lindsay and defender Ryan Maric have also come out of the side. Coach Andrew McQualter hinted early on Friday that more experience would be brought into the side to support their new stars. “That’s exactly what we’re talking about internally. We’ve got a young squad, which everybody’s aware of, but we don’t want to throw them out to the wolves. So we’ve got to support them with the right them with the right maturity around them. And it’s going to be a balance every week. So that’s it, an ongoing discussion internally for us,” he said. “We are aiming to pick the best team available every week to win, understanding that we can’t just pick a young team. So that’s the big thing. “We learned that last year. When we were too young, we weren’t quite ready to compete. So there’s no specific plan around our young players. It’s just broadly the understanding that to play 23 games of AFL football for an 18-year-old is really tough.”