All signs were positive at Optus Stadium on Saturday evening, with the Eagles coming into the halftime break 17 points ahead of Essendon.

But it was the two late goals from Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti and Kyle Langford that planted the seeds of change late in that second term.

On the ground Kennedy could feel the momentum swing, particularly in the third quarter when the Bombers deficit was narrowed to just three points.

But the star forward thought Adam Simpson may have been seeing things a little differently, leading him to make a direct beeline for the premiership coach at three-quarter time.

“I was probably just looking to see what the coaches were feeling from up in the box,” Kennedy said to 6PR.

“Obviously, as a player you have sometimes a different sense, so I just wanted to see if we were on the same page and what we wanted to do moving ahead in how we wanted to move the footy.

“Momentum had changed a fair bit, that’s the biggest thing in football, once you know momentum has changed and it’s not going your way, how you counter it or bunker down for a bit until we can swing it back our way.

“We just talked about how we were going to move the footy, also defend, and what they were doing and what they were seeing from the box.

“It was just so we were all on the same page.”

And after 15 years on field, Kennedy has seen it all when it comes to momentum changes on ground.

But playing in the forward line can also limit visibility on the rest of the game.

“As older players, and as senior players, a lot of us have an opinion on how we’re seeing it, and sometimes it’s not the right one,” Kennedy explained.

“I’m up forward and sometimes I only see certain bits of the game, whereas ‘Bunga’ (Shannon Hurn) or ‘Gov’ (Jeremy McGovern) may have a different opinion because they’re up the other end.

“It’s good to collate sometimes, have a bit of a talk on what’s happening and what everyone’s seeing, because then you can come up with a plan to move ahead.”

Obviously unsuccessful in their efforts on the night, the Eagles eventually succumbed to Essendon by 16 points after struggling to control field position in the final quarter.

 “It was pretty much the same way, with the momentum, we were finding it hard to gain field position, obviously they’d won a few contests and got it in their forward half,” Kennedy said.

“Obviously their handball game was hurting us a little bit, so it was about trying to slow that down, and also once we won it back how we moved the footy."

“Because we were getting quite stuck with the footy, and we wanted to see if we could try and generate some more flow and get it forward.

“We’re just not being consistent in our four-quarter effort, which has been a big thing this year, we’ve tried to focus on it.

“I know we’re narrowing in on the fourth-quarter but we talk about realistically, we want to be consistent over four quarters.”