"There's no doubt that side of the game is something a lot of midfielders and teams are taking notice of. They can move forward and still have an impact on games.

"You look at Dangerfield, Martin, [Nat] Fyfe, they all have that ability to go forward and kick goals. I won't ever see myself as a strong-bodied marking forward like those guys but hopefully I can go forward and have an impact."

The Giants' wretched run with injury last year meant Kelly was given more midfield time than the club had planned in his fourth season. It did not prove too much, too soon at all for the 2013 No.2 draft pick.

"I definitely think with a couple of players going down I had more responsibility put onto me," Kelly said.

"I spent more time in the midfield than planned. I had to embrace it and go with it. That goes with footy. You have to step up when the opportunity is there."

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The knock-on effect meant he could not spend more time in the forward 50 or be released wide where he can use his precise left-foot kick with such damaging results.

Kelly should get those opportunities this year unless the Giants have another terrible run with injury.

Kelly may lack the strength of Dangerfield or Martin but the prospect of him working at the feet of Jonathon Patton and Jeremy Cameron will send shivers down the spines of opposition defences.

"The modern game requires a lot of players to rotate between midfield, forward, wing and back – there's constant changes," Kelly told Fairfax Media from the launch of the AFL's Auskick in Sydney.

"There's a lot of running and fitness involved, you can't spend all your time in the midfield. It's something a lot of players are doing. It's just part of the game now."

A more productive Kelly in front of goal could be one of the missing pieces in the premiership puzzle for the Giants, who are coming off back-to-back preliminary final exits.

"It was a hard pill to swallow two years in a row. We have to put that aside," Kelly said.

"We've got a lot of hurdles to climb and a long time before we can talk about that sort of thing. We feel like we've had a good pre-season, we've put the hard work in, now we look forward to round one."