Josh Kennedy will take with him a mountain of special memories as he slides off into retirement this week, but none better than the 2012 premiership. It was the year that the then 24-year-old stamped himself as one of the great midfielders of the modern era and the moment of ultimate success.
Like Brett Kirk in 2005, Kennedy won the Bob Skilton Medal in a premiership side. The highest team recognition. Kennedy also won All-Australian selection and finished equal 8th in the Brownlow Medal.
It was the year of Kennedy’s arrival as a big-time AFL player as he helped spearhead the Swans to a 10-point grand final win over Hawthorn, the club where his family was football royalty, and where he started his career in 2008. The club he had reluctantly left at the end of 2009 in pursuit of opportunity.
If the football Gods could change just one thing this week Kennedy would be playing in Saturday’s grand final against Geelong to close out his magnificent career. Sadly, it’s not going to happen. His 34-year-old body has finally let him down. He will be a bench coach.
But just as he was at the SCG last Saturday afternoon, when he was mobbed by teammates after the Swans beat Collingwood by a point in the preliminary final and chaired from the ground by co-captains Luke Parker and Dane Rampe, the former skipper, three-time All-Australian and three-time Skilton Medallist will be as much a part of the team unit as ever.
Kennedy, whose father John and grandfather John Sr were icons at Hawthorn, had played 13 games with Hawthorn in 2008-09 when he and teammate Ben McGlynn were traded to Sydney for picks #39, #46 and #70 in the 2009 AFL National Draft.
To the end of 2011 he’d played 61 AFL games for game average statistics of 20.4 possessions, 11.7 contested possessions, 4.9 tackles and 5.3 clearances. He’d played four finals for a 2-2 record and polled three Brownlow Medal votes.
In 2012 he played 25 games, averaged 28.3 possessions, 16.9 contested possessions, 5.0 tackles and 7.6 clearances. He was 5th in the League in possessions, led the League in clearances and contested possessions, and was 12th in tackles.
He was a key member of a side that had finals wins in three states on their way to the flag – by 29 points over Adelaide at Football Park, by 26 points over Collingwood at the Olympic Stadium, and Hawthorn by 10 points at the MCG.
In the finals he averaged 30.3 possessions, 18.3 contested possessions, 5.3 tackles and 8.3 clearances and kicked an equal team-high five goals. Only Norm Smith Medallist Ryan O’Keefe had anything remotely comparable.
He polled a team-high 19 votes in the Brownlow, won All-Australian selection, and was a runaway winner of the Skilton Medal, polling 24 per cent more votes than second-placed Ted Richards, the All-Australian centre half back, and third-placed O’Keefe. It was Kennedy (877) from Richards (705), O’Keefe (701), Kieren Jack (686), Jarrad McVeigh (600), Nick Smith (551), Heath Grundy (536), Lewis Jetta (521), Craig Bird (517), and Dan Hannebery (471).
In a pointer to the evenness of the Sydney side, five players polled 10+ votes in the Brownlow – Kennedy (19), Jack (15), Hannebery (12), O’Keefe (11) and Jude Bolton (10).
The Swans, premiers in 2005 and beaten grand finalists in 2006, had finished 7th-5th-12th in the next three years before playing finals in 2010-11. Premiership trio Craig Bolton, Tadhg Kennelly and Paul Bevan had departed the club as they welcomed Tony Armstrong (Adelaide), Mitch Morton (Richmond) and Tommy Walsh (St Kilda).
They opened the season with a 63-point win over competition newcomers GWS at Stadium Australia to sit on top of the ladder and were never lower than fifth. They started 5-0 before a 1-3 run from Rounds 6-9. An imposing 9-0 streak then had them premiership favorites as they sat on top of the ladder from Rounds 15-21 before a 1-3 finish saw them slip to third. At 16-6 they were a game behind Hawthorn and Adelaide and level with Collingwood.
In their second season under John Longmire, the Swans were 5-4 against other finalists during the home-and-away season, and a ruthlessly efficient 11-2 against the non-finalists. But losses to Adelaide and Hawthorn in Round 20 and Round 22 followed by their biggest loss of the year to sixth-placed Geelong by 34 points in Geelong in Round 23 were not exactly ideal.
Significantly, the medical and conditioning team had a gold star season. Kennedy, Jarrad McVeigh, Kieren Jack, Dan Hannebery, Craig Bird, Lewis Jetta, Ted Richards and Alex Johnson. O’Keefe, Rhyce Shaw, Heath Grundy and Martin Mattner played all but one game, and Jude Bolton, Nick Malceski, Ben Glynn, Lewis Roberts-Thomson, Nick Smith and Sam Reid played 22 of 25 games. Plus, Adam Goodes and Luke Parker played 19, Mike Pyke 18 and Shane Mumford 17.
Of the others, Andrejs Everett played 12 of the first 16 and no more, Mark Seaby five of the first seven and no more, and Trent Dennis-Lane played eight games and was emergency eight times, including the preliminary final and the grand final.
Gary Rohan, in his third season at the club, played the first four games before a season-ending broken leg, Jesse White played Rounds 3-7 and Harry Cunningham debuted in Round 1 after being the last player onto the list but didn’t play at AFL level again. Jared Moore, a grand final emergency in 2005, and Tom Mitchell, in his first season at the club, did not play at AFL level.
In simple numeric terms, that’s 21 of the 22 grand final players who were pretty much regulars, and McGlynn, who missed the preliminary final and grand final.
The ‘extra’ was Morton, who had played 71 games in seven years with West Coast (2005-07) and Richmond (2008-11) for 26 wins. He made the SCG his third football home in exchange for pick #79 in the 2011 National Draft.
Morton finally broke into the AFL side in Rounds 21-22 only to be dropped in Round 23, when Reid and Smith missed with injury. Jude Bolton returned from a three-week injury layoff and Longmire punted on Walsh, who had only played Rounds 8-9, and Armstrong, who was included for the fourth time, having played Round 4, Rounds 10-11-13-14-15 and Round 20.
But after the Round 23 loss in Geelong, Longmire made three changes. Walsh and Armstrong were omitted as Reid and Smith returned, and Morton won a recall for the suspended Grundy. And there he stayed in one of the club’s great finals fairytales.
Qualifying Final v Adelaide – Football Park
The Swans’ poor finish to the home-and-away season meant they began their finals campaign in Adelaide, where they played twice for a 22-point win over Port Adelaide in Round 3 and a five-point loss to Adelaide in Round 6.
They won in good style after Adam Goodes kicked two goals in the first 13 minutes, taking the control with a 5-0 to 1-4 second term. O’Keefe had 37 possessions (18 contested), eight tackles and nine clearances, and Kennedy 35 possessions (21 contested) and 10 clearances to set the game up. Goodes finished with three goals and Morton and Lewis Jetta kicked two.
Preliminary Final v Collingwood – Stadium Australia
It was the perfect result. A confidence booster and a week off before a home preliminary final against Collingwood, who had lost to Hawthorn by 38 points in the qualifying final before beating West Coast by 13 points in an MCG semi-final. In the only change, Grundy returned to replace the injured McGlynn, while the Pies, without suspended skipper Nick Maxwell, lost Alan Didak to injury.
It was a huge night for the club, with Jude Bolton becoming the third Swan to 300 games. Twelve months earlier Adam Goodes’ 300th in a semi-final ended in defeat … they weren’t about to let the same thing happen.
Kennedy and O’Keefe kicked the first two goals and by quarter-time it was 5.5 to 2.3. They were never headed as Collingwood went goalless from the second minute of the second term to the 28th minute of the third. By then it was 9.14 to 3.8 and it was over.
The visitors kicked three goals in the last eight minutes, leaving a more comprehensive victory than the 13.18 to 10.10 (70) scoreline suggested. O’Keeffe had 34 possessions, 11 tackles, nine clearances and a goal, Kennedy 30 possessions, 10 clearances and two goals, Dan Hannebery 33 possessions and Jarrad McVeigh 30, while Lewis Jetta kicked three goals.
Grand Final v Hawthorn – MCG
Almost as if it was going to script, Kennedy found himself in a grand final against his old club. The club that was a constant in his entire life until he moved to Sydney: Hawthorn. And not just the club and its brown and gold jumper. People who were close to him.
In the Hawthorn grand final side of 2012 were seven players who had played with Kennedy in his AFL debut in Round 9, 2008 – Grant Birchall, Lance Franklin, Sam Mitchell, Cyril Rioli, Jarryd Roughead, Brad Sewell and Clint Young.
And while his father John Kennedy Jr, a Hawthorn premiership player in 1983, ’86, ’88 and ’89, was publicly neutral and probably in the Sydney camp, not so his grandfather John Kennedy Sr. A Hawthorn premiership coach in 1961, ’71 and ’76 and coach of the Hawthorn Team of the Century, he was outwardly and unashamedly against his grandson. He wished him well but barracked strong and loud for Hawthorn.
In the run to the grand final Hawthorn beat Collingwood by 38 points in the qualifying final and Adelaide by five points in the preliminary final. They made just one change for the ‘big one’ with captain Luke Hodge returning at the expense of Tom Murphy after Hodge had missed through illness. Sydney was unchanged.
Heavy rain and even hail and thunderstorms were forecast for grand final afternoon, but happily the intrusion of the elements was restricted to some light rain at halftime. It was cloudy but dry with winds favoring the city end.
In the wake of the disastrous ‘Meat Loaf’ performance at the 2011 grand final the AFL changed entertainment formats, with a smaller pre-match show, a larger halftime show and, for the first time, a free concert after the match. Paul Kelly and Tim Rogers did the pre-match before Marina Prior sang the national anthem, and The Temper Trap did halftime. Kelly and Temper Trap did post-match.
It was a goal apiece after 22 minutes, with Malceski having posted the Swans first goal when he hooked a tough shot from the left boundary. Franklin’s first put Hawthorn ahead, and two more majors in time-on gave them a 4.5 to 1.5 lead.
There was a famous grand final moment three minutes from quarter-time which will never be forgotten when Lewis Jetta received a handpass from Heath Grundy deep in the Swans back pocket. He took off. One bounce, two bounces, with Hawthorn speedster Cyril Rioli hot on his tail. He jinked left and then right trying to lose him, taking a third bounce and then a fourth, but Rioli stuck with him. Finally, Jetta kicked deep inside the Sydney forward zone, and in frustration Rioli pushed Jetta in the back after he’d kicked it for a down-field free.
Kennedy goaled on the run from outside 50m in the first minute of the second term as the Swans’ tackling pressure lifted enormously. One goal quickly became four. Adam Goodes kicked long for Kieren Jack to make overhead on the edge of the goalsquare, and then Jetta did likewise for Jarrad McVeigh to mark and convert. A running Sam Reid goal from outside 50m put Sydney in front for the first time 14 minutes into the second term.
There was a five-minute arm wrestle before Mitch Morton made his mark not once but twice. First, he received a slick Goodes handpass and snapped truly from the left pocket, and then he got on the end of a clever Goodes toe-poke before he ducked, weaved and snapped truly from the right pocket. The Swans had kicked 6.0 to 0.1 in the second term and led 7.4 to 4.6.
Kennedy’s second major on the run from 50m had Bruce McAvaney saying “they’re going to be hard to beat” in commentary on Channel Seven. Even more so after Kennedy and Reid combined to set up Lewis Roberts-Thomson for another. Nine minutes after halftime and they were 27 points up.
But the Hawks were always going to hit back. And they did. Hard. Five goals in 10 minutes, including two to Franklin and a long running shot from Isaac Smith, who will play for Geelong against Sydney this week. McVeigh kicked a crucial steadier and Sydney went to the last break with a one-point lead. It was 10.5 to 9.10.
Hawthorn got the first two goals of the last quarter and led by 12 points before Hannebery snapped beautifully on his left. Morton did some important lead-up work, pushing the ball forward, and after a dreadful Hawthorn error Jack ran into an open goalsquare and it was level again at 12.6 to 11.12. Fourteen minutes to play.
As Sydney went long to a pack in the pocket Goodes positioned himself perfectly in front and crumbed like a small man. He quickly threw it on his boot and when it bounced through Sydney led by seven. But there were still 11 minutes left.
Hawthorn had their chances. Three of them. Three behinds. And they took six minutes. Another three minutes without a score followed before the Swans earned a ball-up deep forward.
Kennedy was first to it, but he was dis-possessed. Hannebery gathered and against his first instinct to try to snap the impossible goal over his shoulder he went backwards by hand to Malceski. As he had done so perfectly to open the Sydney scoring Malceski went to his left and hooked it through for full points. Magnificent. The final blow. The Swans won 14.7 (91) to 11.15 (81).
McVeigh, who shared the 2012 captaincy with Goodes, joined coach Longmire in receiving the premiership cup as Goodes, Jude Bolton, O’Keefe and Roberts-Thomson joined 1909 and 1918 premiership hero Vic Belcher as dual Swans premiership players.
So many of the team statistics favored the Hawks. They won the inside 50s 61-43, clearances 58-35 and free kicks 21-10. But the Swans out-tackled their opponents 119-85. They worked harder for longer, played the big moments better, and took their opportunities.
O’Keefe, who had 28 possessions, a game-high 15 tackles and seven clearances, polled 12 of a possible 15 votes to win the North Smith Medal from Hawthorn’s Brad Sewell, who had 33 possessions and received five votes from the panel. Hannebery, with 29 possessions and a goal, and Franklin, with 24 possessions and three goals, received five votes each and McVeigh one vote for his 21 possessions, two goals and nine tackles.
Kennedy could not have been far outside the votes with 26 possessions, including a team-high 15 contested possessions, two goals, four tackles and five clearances.
The 2012 Swans premiership side was:
B: Rhyce Shaw, Ted Richards, Martin Mattner
HB: Alex Johnson, Heath Grundy, Nick Smith
C: Lewis Jetta, Kieren Jack, Jarrad McVeigh
HF: Craig Bird, Sam Reid, Ryan O’Keefe
F: Mike Pyke, Adam Goodes, Lewis Roberts-Thomson
R: Shane Mumford, Josh Kennedy, Jude Bolton.
INT: Nick Malceski, Mitch Morton, Dan Hannebery, Luke Parker (sub).
COACH: John Longmire
With Kennedy’s body denying him the opportunity of a fairytale grand final exit, only two members of the Swans last premiership side are in mix hoping to be part of the next. Luke Parker, substitute in the 2012 grand final, will lead the side with Dane Rampe and Callum Mills, and fitness permitting Sam Reid will play alongside him. And while not wearing his famous #12 jumper Kennedy will be right there with them.
2012 SYDNEY PREMIERSHIP TEAM BUILD
It had been seven years between premierships for the Sydney Swans, from 2005 to 2012. Seven members of the 2012 team were already at the club in 2005 – premiership players Jude Bolton, Adam Goodes, Ryan O’Keefe and Lewis Roberts-Thomson, plus Jarrad McVeigh, Nick Malceski and Heath Grundy.
The first six were national draftees, and the seventh a value-plus rookie pick-up. The build had started with Goodes, pick #43 in 1997, and Bolton, pick #8 in 1998, and include O’Keefe, pick #56 in 1999, Roberts-Thomson, pick #29 in 2001 and McVeigh at pick #5 and Malceski at pick #62 in 2002. Grundy was rookie pick #42 in 2004.
Three months after the 2005 flag the Swans traded picks #19 and #50 in the 2005 National Draft for Ted Richards, who had originally gone to Essendon via pick #27 in the 2000 National, and claimed Kieren Jack, the son of rugby league international Gary Jack, with pick #58 in the rookie draft.
In 2006 they added another value-plus pick-up when they snared Nick Smith with rookie pick #15, and in 2007 they drafted Sydney junior Craig Bird with pick #59 in the National Draft and traded in Martin Mattner from Adelaide. Originally, rookie pick #51 in 2001, he joined the Swans in exchange for pick #27 in the 2007 National Draft.
The 2008 trade and draft period was busy. Rhyce Shaw, originally a Collingwood father/son draftee at pick #18 in 1999, headed to Sydney in exchange for pick #46. Shane Mumford, originally rookie #57 to Geelong in 2007, moved north for a much higher price – pick #28 in the 2008 National Draft, which led the Cats to Mitch Duncan, who will play against Sydney in the grand final this week. The Swans, who have made a habit of striking draft ‘gold’ in the 30’s in the National Draft, did it again when they snared Dan Hannebery at #30. And to finish the influx, they found Mike Pyke, a Canadian national who played international rugby union and got him for rookie pick #57.
In 2009 the Swans landed Josh Kennedy from Hawthorn in a package deal with Ben McGlynn in exchange for three picks in the National Draft – pick #39, #46 and #70. They drafted Lewis Jetta with #14 and Sam Reid at pick #37, and with #55 claimed Trent Dennis-Lane, who would be an emergency for the 2012 grand final.
Luke Parker was the bargain pick-up of 2010, joining with Swans via pick #40 in the National Draft, before they snared Alex Johnson at #57 and traded pick #79 to Richmond for Mitch Morton, who had originally been father/son selection to West Coast at #44 in 2004.
To complete the list, grand final emergencies Tony Armstrong and Tommy Walsh joined the Swans at the end of 2011. Armstrong, originally pick #58 in the 2007 National Draft, was part of the deal that sent Lewis Johnston to Adelaide, and Irishman Walsh, originally rookie pick #69 to St Kilda in 2009, headed north in exchange for picks #35 and #68 in the 2011 National Draft.
