West Captain-Coach Brian Faehse was injured early in the game and Kerley went on to play Centre half-back, standing a young Lindsay Head, a future three time Magarey Medal winner (1955, '58 and '63).
In 1953 Kerley headed north again and worked as a truck driver at a tent camp near the rocket testing range at Koolymilka, close to Woomera.
Kerley led North Whyalla to the premiership in both 1954 and 1955 and in 1955 he played his second SANFL league game with West Adelaide which allowed the club to retain him as a registered player.
In early 1956 Kerley was on his way to take up a position of playing coach at South Gambier in the South-East & Border Football League when West Adelaide intervened.
He led the Bloods to the 1962 SANFL Grand Final where they faced their nemesis Port Adelaide but couldn't repeat their 1961 win and lost to the Magpies.
As a player and playing-coach for West Adelaide Kerley played 165 games and kicked 87 goals between 1952 and 1963 and led the club to its seventh premiership in 1961.
Following the loss to Sturt (coached by Jack Oatey), Kerley retired from league football having played 276 SANFL games and kicking 123 goals in a career spanning 16 seasons beginning in 1952.
He took the Tigers to the 1970 Grand Final where again they lost to Sturt who won their fifth premiership in a row under the coaching of Kerley's former West Adelaide mentor Jack Oatey.
[citation needed] Kerley signed on as coach of perennial under-performers West Torrens in 1977 and fans of the club were called upon to "Join the King’s Eagle Revival in 1977" with T-shirts printed up stating just that.
With strong recruiting of former VFL players such as Ian Borchard, Larry Watson, Craig Williams, Mike Smith, Mark Dreher and Bernie Conlen, as well as young stars Roger Luders, Bruce Lindner, Mark Mickan and Grantley Fielke mixing with veterans Geoff Morris and Peter Meuret, and a game plan that turned attacking from defence into an art form, Kerley had begun to steer West back up the SANFL ladder after being "easy beats" since his departure from the club in 1963.
Following the 1984 season Kerley, seeking a new challenge after more than 30 years of league football, accepted the position of Fitness Director and Tender Captain for South Australia's America's Cup campaign.
In 1991 Kerley was appointed Football Manager for the newly formed Adelaide Crows in the Australian Football League (AFL) and spent the 1991 AFL season with the Crows before making his third run as coach of West Adelaide in 1992, taking over from Kevin Morris who like Kerley in 1962 was sacked after taking Wests to the Grand Final in 1991.
Unfortunately West Adelaide couldn't recapture their previous season's form due to injuries and the loss of key players to the Crows.
Neil Kerley represented South Australia 32 times during his league career including captaining SA to a famous win over Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1963.
The pair were married on 25 February 1955 at the St Teresa's Catholic Church in Whyalla and have three children (Donald Jr, Robyn and Gail).
In a story told by Kerley in the book Knuckles by Jim Rosevear (2003), at one of his first training sessions in charge of Central District during 1988, Kerley told his players during a break that sitting in the grandstand watching them was a woman who knew as much about the game of football as he did and that he would be informed on his way home (a 45 km drive from Elizabeth to the couple's home in Bellevue Heights) who had trained well and who hadn't.
Kerley was referring to wife Barbara who had learned a thing or two about Aussie rules football in her 30+ years sitting on the sidelines watching her husband's teams play.
Over the years Barbara was often able to inform Neil of things that happened during training or games that he had missed, something he greatly valued during his coaching career.