Josh Kennedy (footballer, born 1987)

Joshua J. "Josh" Kennedy (born 25 August 1987) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He initially started his career at Carlton and played 22 games over the course of his two-year tenure there.

Having originally played with the East Fremantle Football Club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL), he was recruited to Carlton with the fourth pick overall in the 2005 National Draft. Kennedy was traded to West Coast prior to the 2008 season, as part of a deal involving the club's then-captain, Chris Judd. Over the following seasons at West Coast, he established himself as a key forward, first at centre half-forward and later in more of a full-forward role. Kennedy led the club's goalkicking during the 2011, 2013 and 2015 seasons, and has kicked over 400 goals during his career. He is considered one of the best tall forwards in the competition, and was the leading goalkicker in the league's 2015 season. After Darren Glass retired midway through the 2014 season, Kennedy was named acting co-captain of the club for the remainder of the season, along with four other players.^[1]

Early life and junior career

Kennedy was born in Melbourne, and grew up in Canberra, Townsville, and Perth, with his family finally settling in Northampton, a small country town north of Geraldton, Western Australia.^[2][3] His parents, Jenny Peterson and Jamie Kennedy, both played basketball professionally, in the Women's National Basketball League and National Basketball League, respectively, having first met as scholarship holders at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).^[4] Kennedy played both football and basketball growing up, and represented Western Australia's state under-16 basketball team.^[3] He later concentrated on football, playing for Northampton in the Great Northern Football League (GNFL), and often appeared alongside Harry Taylor, another future AFL player.^[5] Kennedy played for the state football team at both under 16 and under 18 level, and was named in the under 18 All-Australian team at conclusion of the 2005 AFL Under 18 Championships.^[6] He had attended the AIS/AFL Academy in Canberra the previous year, and toured Ireland with an academy side, playing several international rules matches, and thus became the first child of two previous AIS scholarship holders to also attend the institute.^[7] With Northampton falling into the recruitment zone of the Perth-based East Fremantle Football Club, Kennedy made his senior West Australian Football League (WAFL) debut during the 2005 season, finishing with six goals from six games.^[8] He was selected by Carlton with pick four in the 2005 AFL National Draft, held in November 2005.^[9]

Senior career

In 2006, Kennedy showed promises that he could be a future key-position forward, having made his debut in round six. However, he struggled for ground time and form when playing at the AFL level, scoring only 5.4 from his nine games. In Carlton's VFL-affiliate, the Northern Bullants, he found it easier to show his skills with eighteen goals for the season.

In 2007, Kennedy committed to a new 2-year contract with the Carlton Football Club. However, on 11 October, it was announced that he had agreed to instead return to his native state and play for the West Coast Eagles,^[10] thus enabling Carlton to secure the services of top midfielder Chris Judd in a trade.

On 26 April 2008, Josh Kennedy, wearing number 17, made his debut for the Eagles.

In Round 9, 2011, Kennedy kicked ten goals against the Western Bulldogs, becoming just the fourth Eagle (after Scott Cummings, Peter Sumich and Mark LeCras) to kick ten goals in a game.^[11]

After playing in struggling teams at the start of his career – four of Kennedy's first six seasons resulted in bottom two finishes, including two wooden spoons, one each at Carlton and West Coast respectively, Kennedy made his first finals appearance in 2011. Kennedy won only 14 of the first 67 matches of his career. However his record has since improved; as of the end of 2012, he has won 23 of his last 32 matches to have a career win-draw-loss record of 37-1-61.^[12]

In the 2013 AFL season, Kennedy was in front of the Coleman Medal nearly every week. But with the Eagles losing their last three games by an average margin of 71 points and Kennedy being goal-less in each of them, he lost his chance of winning the medal.

On 30 March 2014 Kennedy played his 100th game for the Eagles, kicking four goals and one behind in a 93-point thrashing of Melbourne at the MCG. In Round 8, 2014 Kennedy bagged 11 goals straight in a 111-point win over the Giants. He would then go on to kick bags of 7 and 8 both against the Suns. He finished the year with 61 goals.

On 10 April 2015, Kennedy kicked 10 goals again against Carlton. It was the third time that he brought up the double figures, kicking 6 of his 10 goals in the third quarter. His tenth goal for the night was also his 300th for his career. At the end of the Home and Away season, Kennedy finished with 75 goals and became the second West Coast player to win the Coleman Medal.

On 21 May 2016, after kicking 5 goals in the previous match, Kennedy bagged 7 goals against Port Adelaide to bring his career tally to 400 goals. He went on to secure back to back Coleman medals in the same year, scoring a total of 82 goals.

Statistics

Statistics are correct to the end of the 2016 season.^[13]

References

External links

• Josh Kennedy's profile on the official website of the West Coast Eagles
• Josh Kennedy's statistics from AFL Tables
• Josh Kennedy Profile in Blueseum