AFL: Sydney Swans champion Josh Kennedy to retire at season’s end but not before trying to return from hamstring injury
Sydney great Josh Kennedy has announced he will retire at season’s end but he hasn’t given up on playing again before he hangs up the boots.
AFL
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Retirement-bound Sydney great Josh Kennedy is holding out hope of a fairytale finish to his brilliant career as he tries desperately to recover from a second hamstring setback this year.
The champion midfielder, who has played 290 games, told teammates, coaches and staff on Tuesday that this would be his 16th and final season as an AFL footballer in an emotion-charged farewell.
Coach John Longmire has never hid his admiration for Kennedy as a footballer and person, and conceded he shed a tear as the 34-year-old revealed his retirement news with “a heavy heart”.
Kennedy missed most of this year after suffering tendon damage in his right hamstring in May before suffering a hamstring strain on his left leg in the VFL on Sunday.
He privately made the decision to retire last week – before his injury occurred – after wrestling with what to do for months.
The Swans are set to play a significant role in September but Kennedy is racing the clock to not only be fit but force his way into John Longmire’s senior side for one last shot to win a second flag.
He looms as the Nathan Jones of this season, albeit with fingers crossed for a different ending.
“Look, it’s a hope (that I can come back),” Kennedy said.
“I think what I’d say is, without expectation and regardless of the severity of the injury, I’ll just do what I can to get back and at least I’d love to just finish the year and train and feel part of it that way.
“If it doesn’t happen; it doesn’t change anything. I’ve got nothing but love and admiration for the footy club and all the players and staff and everyone involved ... I’m very content with where I sit right now.”
Kennedy is already one of Sydney’s greatest footballers after being born into Hawthorn football royalty and starting his career at Waverley Park.
His grandfather, the late John Kennedy snr, is one of the most revered coaches in VFL/AFL history and breaking the news to him about his trade to the Swans was one of the toughest discussions of his life.
Kennedy’s father, John Kennedy jnr, played in four premierships in Hawthorn’s 1980s golden era, so it was a proud day when his son became a Hawk via the father-son rule in 2006.
But Kennedy was a self-confessed fringe player at Hawthorn under Alastair Clarkson and was shipped off to Sydney with Ben McGlynn for three modest draft picks three years later.
The Hawks selected future premiership players Ben Stratton and Matt Suckling, as well as seven-gamer Sam Grimley, but Kennedy’s incredible development in red and white meant the Swans won the trade in a landslide.
McGlynn proved a handy contributor for the Swans, too, missing out on the 2012 premiership only because of a hamstring injury weeks earlier.
Kennedy transformed into one of the AFL’s best inside midfielders and his honour roll includes playing in Sydney’s 2012 premiership, serving as co-captain, making the All-Australian team three times and winning the Bob Skilton Medal as club champion on three occasions.
His selflessness was evident when he approached Longmire midway through last year to suggest he should relinquish the captaincy to give Callum Mills that opportunity.
Kennedy, a legitimate warrior on the field who never shirked a contest, helped usher in an era of tall, big-bodied on-ballers who could bang and crash in the centre.
As Longmire perfectly put it, Kennedy was the “epitome” of an inside midfielder and is the all-time contested possessions leader with 4006, ahead of Gary Ablett jnr, Patrick Dangerfield, Joel Selwood and Scott Pendlebury.
“He’s been fortunate enough to play 22 finals games, and 16 of those times he’s had 15-plus contested possessions – I think that’s quite unique,” Longmire said.
“In the 2016 grand final, he didn’t get the preparation he probably would have loved, but he’s come out the next day and had 35 (disposals) and kicked three (goals).
“I think he’s won our best player in finals award four times, so the stats speak for themselves.
“You knew what you were going to get out of Josh Kennedy every week during the home and away season, then you’d go to finals and you knew what you were going to get, which was another level again.
“There are very few players you can say that about.”
Kennedy was unsure what the future had in store for him, including whether he turns his hand to coaching, but said he would enter the football afterlife “eternally grateful” for the opportunities he had.
Originally published as AFL: Sydney Swans champion Josh Kennedy to retire at season’s end but not before trying to return from hamstring injury
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