Ben Kennedy

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For the Neighbours character, see Ben Kirk
Ben Kennedy
Personal information
Full name Ben Kennedy
Date of birth 14 March 1974 (1974-03-14) (age 34)
Place of birth Casino, New South Wales, Australia
Height 188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 107 kg (16 st 12 lb)
Nickname(s) BK
School(s) St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill
Club information
Position(s) Lock / Second Row
Current club Retired
Youth clubs
Years Club
Casino Cougars
Senior clubs*
Years Club Apps (points)
1996–1999
2000–2004
2005–2006		 Canberra Raiders
Newcastle Knights
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles		 67 (124)
86 (116)
42 (40)
Representative teams
1999–2005
2000–2004		 New South Wales
Australia		 13 (4)
12 (8)

* Professional club appearances and points
counted for domestic first grade only.

Ben Kennedy (born 14 March 1974 in Casino, New South Wales), is an Australian former professional rugby league player. He represented at State and National levels from 1999 to 2005, touring with the Kangaroos in 2001 and 2004.

Contents

[edit] Rugby union schoolboy

Kennedy played rugby union at St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill and was selected in the Australian Schoolboys side. He switched to rugby league before representing at the senior level in rugby union.

[edit] Rugby league club career

His club career started with the Canberra Raiders in 1996 when he was Rookie of the Year. He had four seasons with the club though the 1999 season was coloured by questions whether he had agreed to terms with the Newcastle Knights before the mid season anti-tampering deadline.

Kennedy saw premiership victory during his five year stint with the Newcastle Knights from 2000 and was selected to national honours while playing for the Knights.

In his final seasons 2005-06 he was an inspirational leader in captaining the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. Such was his impact that sports betting odds would shift dramatically against Manly if Kennedy was to miss a match though injury. His final club match was Manly's 2006 Semi Final loss St George Illawarra at Aussie Stadium.

[edit] Representative career

He was first selected for New South Wales in 1999 and went on to play 13 State of Origins. He debuted for Australia in 2001 when he played in all three Tests in Britain that year on a condensed Kangaroo tour.

Kennedy was a fiercely competitive player who gave some truly remarkable performances at the representative level often going beyond the ordinary limits of fatigue and playing himself to total exhaustion by game end.

After missing representative opportunities in 2003 due to injury and surgery, Kennedy seemed determined to make the most of all further chances and grew in stature as an on-field leader. With a new lease of life at Manly in 2005, he appeared in six out of the seven Australian Test matches that year. Along with former club team mate and friend Andrew Johns, Kennedy finished his international career in the 2006 Anzac Test.

Kennedy has played in twelve Tests for Australia, three games in the 2000 World Cup, one minor international and two minor tour games.

[edit] Sources

  • Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
  • Andrews, Malcom (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney

[edit] External links