Kelly, Daniher elevated to legend status but AFL intervenes on Carey

The 100 inaugural inductees of the NSW Australian Football Hall of Fame were celebrated with a gala dinner at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Friday night.

Wagga's Kelly and Ungarie's Daniher were among nine inductees to be elevated to legend status.

It wasn't all good news for the region's footballers with AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon blocking the selection committee's decision to elevate Wagga's Wayne Carey to legend status.

Carey's off-field behaviour was the reason with Dillon stating that legend status would 'take away from the event and the important focus on the national response to the issue of gender-based violence against women.'

Kelly said it was an honour to be recognised as a 'legend' of the game in NSW.

"Of course it is. To be inducted into it's one thing and then to be named a legend of it, that's another," Kelly said.

"It's nice to be acknowledged and thanked for your part that I did in the build of footy in NSW, and probably Sydney as much as anything."

Kelly used the occasion to highlight how much times have changed since his early days at the Swans.

"When I went up there, there was no one walking around the town in a Swans jumper or there were no kids kicking sherrins in the park. It was still aerial ping pong and all that sort of stuff," Kelly recalled.

"It was still like that for the first four or five years, probably up until 95, Barrass came on board a couple of years before that but 95 was when we started to get going a bit.

"Plugger turned up as well, he was part of that 95 side, our ressies played in the grand final, I won the Brownlow, it all started to turn."

Kelly explained that he was just playing his part in Sydney, like others were across the state, to better the game of Australian rules in NSW.

"Obviously my part of it was the playing side of it, I was just doing what I was doing, like all the other people out in the country leagues, they were just doing what they had to do to make it good for them," he said.

"As a collective, we were all making it all better.

"The Swans played a huge role in all that as well. I just happened to be in Sydney, NSW, doing my stuff and I was getting better and they were getting better and it all came together and the rest is history.

"I played my part in that and there were obviously 100 other people who were there as well."

Kelly said the gala dinner had a unique atmosphere.

"It had a good, nice feel to it, like a country feel," Kelly said.

"Everyone in the crowd was either there because they were inducted or they were there representing one of their family members. Everyone was feeling really good about it, everyone was happy, it was just a nice event.

"Everyone got acknowledged for their contribution."

Kelly even enjoyed a rare catch-up with his former Sydney teammate in Tony 'Plugger' Lockett.

"Plug turned up, which is unusual, he doesn't sort of show up to too many things," he said.

"I rarely see him. It was good to see him. He was good, he's going good."

Kelly retired after a 234-game career with Sydney Swans, where he was captain for a club record of 10 seasons.

He won the 1995 Brownlow Medal, is a three-time All Australian, four-time Swans best and fairest and AFL Hall of Fame inductee.

Kelly also was voted the AFL Player's Association Robert Rose Most Courageous Player award five times throughout his career.

Daniher finished after a 313 AFL-VFL career, mostly with Essendon but also South Melbourne.

'TD' was captain of Essendon's 1984 and 1985 premierships and was best and fairest winner in 1982. He also represented NSW four times, all as captain, and was named captain of the 1988 All-Australian team.

Daniher came from Ungarie, alongside his brothers, and was part of the club's 1974 premiership team. He also won the Northern Riverina best and fairest at age 16. He also coached Wagga Tigers to five Riverina League premierships during the 90s.