Inside Josh Kennedy’s left bicep is a tattooed inscription that reads ‘Est. 1987’.
It signifies the year of Kennedy’s birth, but it also resonates as the starting point of the West Coast Eagles’ entry into an expanded VFL competition. Astrologists might consider it an alignment of the stars; that Kennedy was born to play here.
He got to the Eagles in a roundabout fashion; from his home town of Northampton, to East Fremantle and then via Carlton who snared him with selection #4 in the 2005 draft, in the post script to a season when West Coast lost a nailbiting grand final to Sydney.
A little reluctant to initially be wrapped up in the famous trade package that saw Chris Judd join the Blues at the end of the 2007 season, Kennedy made his way back to his home state.
And so began a wonderful union between a gangly young forward and a club that managed to achieve a positive result out of the departure of perhaps its finest player.
Judd was a Brownlow medallist and a premiership captain when the emotional tug of his home town and his family proved irresistible. He joined Carlton and in exchange the Eagles secured Kennedy and draft selections #3 and #20, used to attain young hopefuls Chris Masten and Tony Notte.
Kennedy and Masten would become teammates in the 2018 premiership while Notte was a gifted young forward who did not quite impose himself at the elite level. He played two senior matches, but has been a wonderful player across 253 games at Swan Districts. Given more time in the AFL system who knows what he might have achieved.
Kennedy, on the other hand, has become one of the great champions in the history of the Eagles.
Tomorrow, against the Western Bulldogs, he will play his 250th match for the club, joining Andrew Embley in eighth position on the club’s all-time games played list. He has created an imposing curriculum vitae, a two-time Coleman medallist as the AFL’s leading goalkicker, seven times he has been the club’s highest scorer in accumulating 662 goals in Eagles colours.
Three times he has kicked double figure tallies in a single game and 13 times he has kicked seven or more. Thrice he has also been an All-Australian, vice-captain of the team in 2017 and was also runner-up in the Club Champion Award in 2016.
Add a best clubman mantle and three Glendinning-Allan medals as best on ground in RAC derbies and it is a truly remarkable career. Those individual accolades are a nice sidelight, but he’s always about team and playing his role for the collective benefit.
But outside of his football achievements, who is Josh Kennedy?
Well, the clearest insight for the public into the man who was worn #17 with such distinction has come in recent weeks.
As almost everyone in this State is aware his hometown of Northampton and neighbouring localities, most notably Kalbarri, were devastated by cyclone Seroja just over two months ago. Cyclones don’t happen in the mid-west, but this one did. With maximum impact.
No one could do anything to prevent it and restoring those affected communities to their original state might never happen. Making a new version of them will take years.
Kennedy, in tandem with another Northampton native on the club’s list, Jamie Cripps sought to do whatever they could to assist the rebuild cause. He was up there on the weekend, taking advantage of the mid-season bye, helping to raise as much financial support – and awareness – as possible for the locals.
He still has family and friends in the idyllic town that has always punched above its weight, certainly in terms of the talent that falls out of the trees with the same regularity that the West Indies once produced fearsome fast bowlers.
The philanthropic Kennedy has also been a devout supporter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society – again driven by a family connection.
And family is at the core of this man. His daughters are so often hand-in-hand with their doting father, who might be adored by fans for his football exploits, but his girls only see dad.
When Kennedy steps onto Optus Stadium to play his 250th game for the Eagles his position within the history of the club will rise just a little further. But as always JK will glean much more out of this match if his team can get past a highly talented Bulldogs outfit.
