Joshua J. Kennedy (born 25 August 1987) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (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. He played football for East Fremantle in the West Australian Football League (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. Kennedy soon established himself as West Coast's leading key forward. He has led the club goalkicking six times, firstly 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 Medals 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 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, and grew up in Canberra, Townsville, and Perth, with his family finally settling in Northampton, a small country town north of Geraldton, Western Australia. His parents, Jenny Peterson and Jamie Kennedy, both played basketball professionally in the Women's National Basketball League and National Basketball League, respectively, having first met as scholarship holders at the Australian Institute of Sport (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 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 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, Kennedy made his senior (WAFL) debut during the 2005