So many times when it mattered, Josh Kennedy lifted the West Coast Eagles onto his broad shoulders and made them believe.
Like the Saturday night in 2015 when the Eagles hosted North Melbourne in a preliminary final at Subiaco Oval. The Eagles were massive favourites, but the Kangaroos threw the script out the window.
After a nervy West Coast was kept goalless in the opening quarter, the crowd began to wonder if the Roos were going to spoil the party.
Enter Kennedy, with a moment of almost foolish aerial bravery and brilliance.
Racing towards goal, trying to mark a kick from Mark Hutchings, Kennedy’s eyes wavered not once from the Sherrin, which he caught a nanosecond before Scott Thompson cannoned into him like a train.
Then with both men lying on the turf, Kennedy made the assessment that Thompson may have been feeling the effects slightly more than he was, so he took off, doing his best Carl Lewis impression, and slotted home on the run from a tight angle.
The Eagles were away and booked their spot in the club’s sixth grand final.
Such moments were routine for Kennedy, who announced his retirement from the AFL on Tuesday morning.
Eagles relied on Kennedy
His three calming goals in an excruciatingly tight grand final against Collingwood three years later helped deliver the Eagles’ fourth and perhaps their most unlikely flag.
His Fred Flintstone run-up while kicking for goal should have been a national calamity.
But he was one of those forwards, like a Tony Lockett or a Matthew Lloyd, who inspired a cold, knowing doom in the chests of opposition supporters whenever he marked the ball inside 50.
In tandem with Jack Darling, he was part of one of the best tall forward combos of the modern age — between them slotting more than 1,100 goals for the club — a Batman and Robin that made a habit of thwarting the jokers and penguins hanging off them down back.
If the Eagles had a Mount Rushmore, the patriotic tribute to four United States presidents carved into the granite face of a mountain in South Dakota, Kennedy’s face must surely be in the conversation.
Peter Matera, certainly. Jakovich? Worsfold? All likely options.
But Kennedy, who scored in excess of 200 goals more than any other Eagle, would have to consider himself unlucky not to get a spot.
Still dependable at end of career
His back-to-back Coleman Medals in 2015-16 marked his zenith, but even as his body started to erode into his 30s, he was still one of the club’s more reliable players, still capable of turning games and winning matches off his boot.
When the club toppled Essendon in round 15, it was off the back of five goals from the champion.
But nothing lasts forever, and as that lustrous beard becomes flecked with ever more grey, Kennedy has made the decision to pull the pin on a footy career, citing trouble with his knee.
Sunday’s clash with Adelaide will be his last AFL game.
Credit must go to the Eagles for not blinking during the days of trade brinkmanship with Carlton in 2007.
Kennedy never really wanted to leave the Blues. He wanted to stay and work hard for the club that drafted him.
But the Eagles knew that in Chris Judd, they were parting with a once-in-a-generation type of talent.
The Eagles hoped the big forward from Northampton might help redress the loss, but only their wildest dreams could have conjured the type of character and career Kennedy would have.
West Coast’s biggest loss became its greatest gain.
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