A shattered Tim Kelly admits he is still coming to terms with West Coast’s one-point elimination final loss to Collingwood.

After crossing from Geelong at the end of last season, the prized recruit had his heart set on a deep push into the post-season.

But, like his teammates and the legions of Eagles fans, he was left with a bitterly sour taste following another epic against the Pies.

“Obviously still pretty gutted and shattered about the result the other night,” Kelly told Mix94.5.

“It is what it is. We’ve got to live with it.

“It’s just a disappointing way for the season to end for us.”

Kelly was involved in the desperate final stages, when the Eagles had a shot at snatching victory after Jack Darling’s third major drew them within a point with 1.17 left on the clock.

Collingwood took territory from the ensuing centre bounce and surged the ball inside 50, only for Jeremy McGovern to start a chain of possession from the last line of defence for one last attacking foray.

West Coast supporters at Optus Stadium rose from the seats as one willing a repeat of the unforgettable 2018 Grand Final build up leading to Dom Sheed’s match-winning goal.

But were left with hands on heads in disbelief after Kelly handballed to Tom Cole streaming forward through the centre square, only for his kick to be smothered by Taylor Adams as the Pies regained possession and ran down the clock.

“I knew heading to the last CB (centre bounce) after we kicked the goal that there was about a minute-and-a-half to go,” Kelly said.

“I remember marking the ball and just trying to get the play on as quick as possible. That play just didn’t quite work out for us in the end. Just playing on instinct, I guess trying to give ourselves a chance to win the game.

“I saw Tommy Cole run past … gave him the ball and it ended up getting smothered.

"We certainly had our moments in the game. I thought overall they were clearly better than us and deserved the win.

“We thought we lost the midfield battle. We lost the field position battle. Inside 50s were pretty even, but in terms of contests wins and losses we probably lost that battle all over the ground.

“We share the feeling, I’m sure our supporters are still coming to grips with it.

“It was a season that looked like there were bigger things on the horizon but unfortunately it was not meant to be. That’s on us.

“We’ve got to own that and it’s important that we use that to fuel us for hopefully a big pre-season and give next year a real red-hot crack.”

Kelly said he was looking forward to “just getting back to normal, regular things” after living under AFL protocols, in hubs and under quarantine restrictions for most of 2020.

“Not going to lie, it has been a big 12 months and it has been a long season,” he said.

“I know like our supporters, like the rest of my teammates, yes we would love to be playing next week and hopefully the couple of weeks after that, but it’s not meant to be.

“There’s a small part that says it has been a long year and looking forward to overall having a bit of normality back in our life.”