Joshua James Kennedy (born 25 August 1987) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played for the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). He previously played for Carlton from 2006 to 2007 and is regarded as one of the best key-forwards of his generation. Kennedy is originally from Melbourne but grew up in

Northampton, Western Australia Northampton is a town north of Geraldton, in the Mid West region of Western Australia. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 868. The town contains a National Trust building. The town lies on the North West Coastal Highway. Original ...

. He played football for

East Fremantle East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

(WAFL) before being drafted to Carlton with the fourth pick in the 2005 National Draft. After two seasons at Carlton, he was traded to West Coast at the end of the 2007 season as part of a deal involving club captain

Chris Judd Christopher Dylan Judd (born 8 September 1983) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and captain of both the West Coast Eagles and Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is regarded as one of the grea ...

. Kennedy soon established himself as West Coast's leading key forward. He has led the club goalkicking six times, first in 2011 and then in five consecutive seasons from 2013 onwards. In 2014, he briefly served as acting co-captain following the retirement of Darren Glass. Kennedy won consecutive

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most Laws of Australian rules football#Scoring, goals in the Australian Football League#Premiership season, home- ...

s in 2015 and 2016 as the league's leading goalkicker, and was runner-up in 2017. He was also named in the

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

in each of those years. In 2022, Kennedy kicked his 700th goal, becoming the first Eagles player to reach the milestone.

Early life and junior career

Kennedy was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, and grew up in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

, and

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, with his family finally settling in Northampton, a small country town north of

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri language, Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu language, Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. As of the , Geraldt ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

.Matt Burgan (2005). "It's AFL, not NBL for Kennedy" – Australian Football League. Published 29 September 2005. Retrieved fro
One Eyed Richmond
4 August 2013. His parents, Jenny Peterson and

Jamie Kennedy James Harvey Kennedy (born May 25, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. In film, Kennedy played Randy Meeks in the ''Scream'' film series (1996–2000), which saw him as a supporting character in the first and third installments and a le ...

, both played basketball professionally in the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

and National Basketball League, respectively, having first met as scholarship holders at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

(AIS). Kennedy played both football and basketball growing up, and he represented Western Australia's state under-16 basketball team. He later concentrated on football, playing for Northampton in the Great Northern Football League (GNFL). Kennedy played for the state football team at both under-16 and under-18 level, and he was named in the under-18 All-Australian team at the conclusion of the 2005 AFL Under-18 Championships. He had attended the AIS/AFL Academy in Canberra the previous year, and toured Ireland with an academy side, playing several

international rules International rules football (; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international represe ...

matches, and thus became the first child of two previous AIS scholarship holders to also attend the institute. With Northampton falling into the recruitment zone of the Perth-based

East Fremantle Football Club The East Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Sharks and colloquially referred to as East Freo, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The team's home ground is Eas ...

, Kennedy made his senior (WAFL) debut during the 2005 season, finishing with six goals from six games.Joshua KENNEDY (East Fremantle)
– West Australian Football League. Retrieved 4 August 2013. He was selected by Carlton with pick four in the 2005 National Draft, held in November 2005.

Senior career

In 2006, Kennedy showed promises that he could be a future key-position forward, having made his debut in Round 6. However, he struggled for ground time and form when playing at AFL level, scoring only 5.4 from his nine games. In Carlton's , the

Northern Bullants The Northern Bullants are a semi-professional Australian rules football club that currently competes in the Victorian Football League (VFL). The club, which is based in the Melbourne suburb of Preston, plays its home games at Preston City Ov ...

, he found it easier to show his skills with eighteen goals for the season. In 2007, Kennedy committed to a new two-year contract with the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

. 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, thus enabling Carlton to secure the services of top midfielder Chris Judd in a trade. On 26 April

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, Kennedy, wearing number 17, made his debut for the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

. In Round 9, 2011, Kennedy kicked ten goals against the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

, becoming just the fourth Eagle (after Scott Cummings,

Peter Sumich Peter Lori Sumich (born 11 January 1968) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented in the Australian Football League (AFL) and in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) during the 1980s and 1990s. Sumich made his debut for ...

and Mark LeCras) to kick ten goals in a game. 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 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. 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. In the

2013 AFL season The 2013 AFL season was the 117th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eig ...

, 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 goalless in each of them, he lost his chance of winning the medal. On 30 March

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, 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 A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) * Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'g ...

. He would then go on to kick bags of 7 and 8 both against the Suns. He finished the year with 61 goals. After Darren Glass retired midway through the season, Kennedy was named acting co-captain of the club for the remainder of 2014, along with four other players. On 10 April

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, Kennedy kicked ten 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 seven goals against

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

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. Kennedy kicked his 500th career goal in Round 20 of the

2017 AFL season The 2017 AFL season was the 121st season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season feature ...

. He then kicked his 500th goal for West Coast two weeks later in Round 22, becoming only the second player in club history to do so (after Peter Sumich). On 29 April 2018, Kennedy became West Coast's all-time leading goalkicker, overtaking Sumich with his 515th goal for the Eagles during the

Western Derby The Western Derby () is the name given to the Australian rules football matches between the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers, who both participate in the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW). As both teams are ba ...

. Kennedy scored three goals in West Coast's 2018 premiership win. In July 2022, Kennedy kicked his 700th goal for West Coast against Carlton, and a month later he announced his retirement from the AFL. Kennedy decided to make his final game a home game in the Round 21 match against

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

on Sunday, 7 August 2022. Despite Adelaide winning by 16 points, Kennedy recorded an 8-goal haul and was chaired off to a standing ovation and a

guard of honour A guard of honour (Commonwealth English), honor guard (American English) or ceremonial guard, is a group of people, typically drawn from the military, appointed to perform ceremonial duties – for example, to receive or guard a head of state ...

by both teams. In a gesture of appreciation, Kennedy personally shook the hands of the entire Adelaide team, including their entire on-field support staff.

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2022 season'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 9 , , 5 , , 4 , , 36 , , 16 , , 52 , , 32 , , 11 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 4.0 , , 1.8 , , 5.8 , , 3.6 , , 1.2 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 13 , , 6 , , 5 , , 57 , , 40 , , 97 , , 50 , , 27 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 4.4 , , 3.1 , , 7.5 , , 3.8 , , 2.1 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 7 , , 7 , , 4 , , 55 , , 34 , , 89 , , 46 , , 7 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 7.9 , , 4.9 , , 12.7 , , 6.6 , , 1.0 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 16 , , 31 , , 17 , , 150 , , 52 , , 202 , , 110 , , 28 , , 1.9 , , 1.1 , , 9.4 , , 3.3 , , 12.6 , , 6.9 , , 1.8 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 22 , , 41 , , 19 , , 199 , , 61 , , 260 , , 130 , , 60 , , 1.9 , , 0.9 , , 9.0 , , 2.8 , , 11.8 , , 5.9 , , 2.7 , , 3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 23 , , 59 , , 38 , , 208 , , 62 , , 270 , , 144 , , 70 , , 2.6 , , 1.7 , , 9.0 , , 2.7 , , 11.7 , , 6.3 , , 3.0 , , 4 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 9 , , 18 , , 14 , , 58 , , 16 , , 74 , , 43 , , 13 , , 2.0 , , 1.6 , , 6.4 , , 1.8 , , 8.2 , , 4.8 , , 1.4 , , 3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 21 , , 60 , , 23 , , 210 , , 63 , , 273 , , 143 , , 69 , , 2.9 , , 1.1 , , 10.0 , , 3.0 , , 13.0 , , 6.8 , , 3.3 , , 6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 20 , , 61 , , 33 , , 175 , , 51 , , 226 , , 114 , , 62 , , 3.1 , , 1.7 , , 8.8 , , 2.6 , , 11.3 , , 5.7 , , 3.1 , , 11 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 25 , , style="background:#CAE1FF; width:1em" , 80^† , , style="background:#CAE1FF; width:1em" , 55^† , , 241 , , 92 , , 333 , , 168 , , 52 , , style="background:#CAE1FF; width:1em" , 3.2^† , , style="background:#CAE1FF; width:1em" , 2.2^† , , 9.6 , , 3.7 , , 13.3 , , 6.7 , , 2.1 , , 12 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 23, , style="background:#CAE1FF; width:1em" , 82^† , , 37 , , 229 , , 71 , , 300 , , 148 , , 69 , , style="background:#CAE1FF; width:1em" , 3.6^† , , 1.6 , , 9.9 , , 3.0 , , 12.9 , , 6.4 , , 3.1 , , 17 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 19 , , 69 , , 39 , , 166 , , 59 , , 225 , , 111 , , 27 , , style="background:#CAE1FF; width:1em" , 3.6^† , , 2.1 , , 8.7 , , 3.1 , , 11.8 , , 5.8 , , 1.4 , , 13 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

^# , style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 14 , , 43 , , 20 , , 117 , , 38 , , 155 , , 68 , , 28 , , style="background:#CAE1FF; width:1em" , 3.1^† , , 1.4 , , 8.4 , , 2.7 , , 11.1 , , 4.9 , , 2.0 , , 4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 22 , , 49 , , 29 , , 132 , , 51 , , 183 , , 89 , , 39 , , 2.2 , , 1.3 , , 6.0 , , 2.3 , , 8.3 , , 4.0 , , 1.8 , , 3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 17 , , 34 , , 22 , , 96 , , 23 , , 119 , , 69 , , 16 , , 2.0 , , 1.3 , , 5.7 , , 1.4 , , 7.0 , , 4.1 , , 0.9 , , 6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 18 , , 41 , , 21 , , 131 , , 47 , , 178 , , 89 , , 21 , , 2.3 , , 1.2 , , 7.3 , , 2.6 , , 9.9 , , 4.9 , , 1.2 , , 2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 15 , , 37 , , 13 , , 96 , , 37 , , 133 , , 58 , , 21 , , 2.5 , , 0.9 , , 6.4 , , 2.5 , , 8.9 , , 3.9 , , 1.4 , , 6 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 293 ! 723 ! 393 ! 2356 ! 813 ! 3169 ! 1612 ! 620 ! 2.5 ! 1.3 ! 8.0 ! 2.8 ! 10.8 ! 5.5 ! 2.1 ! 90

Honours and achievements

AFL *1× AFL Premiership Player:

*2× Coleman Medallist:

*3× All-Australian:

( vc),

( vc) *2× All-Australian 40-man Squad:

* Carlton Pre-Season Premiership Side:

West Coast Eagles * 8× West Coast leading goalkicker:

* Vice-captain:

–

* Chris Mainwaring Medallist:

*3×

Glendinning–Allan Medal The Glendinning–Allan Medal, formerly the Ross Glenndinning Medal, is awarded to the player judged best on ground in each Western Derby football match played between Fremantle Football Club and the West Coast Eagles. It is named after forme ...

list:

(round 20),

(round 6),

(round 7) *Eagles in the Community Award: 2016 *'
Life Membership:
'' 2016

Personal life

Kennedy married long-time girlfriend Lauren Atkinson, an artist, in October 2016. They had previously been together since 2008 and have two daughters. Kennedy also has two siblings, an older brother Scott and sister Melissa.

References

External links

* * * *
Josh Kennedy Profile in Blueseum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Josh 1987 births Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Carlton Football Club players East Fremantle Football Club players Living people Northern Bullants players People from Northampton, Western Australia Australian rules footballers from Melbourne West Coast Eagles players West Coast Eagles premiership players Coleman Medal winners All-Australians (AFL) VFL/AFL premiership players 21st-century Australian sportsmen