Ben Kennedy
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- For the Neighbours character, see Ben Kirk
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ben Kennedy | |
| Date of birth | 14 March 1974 | |
| Place of birth | Casino, New South Wales, Australia | |
| Height | 188 | |
| Weight | 103 | |
| Nickname | BK | |
| Position | Lock or 2nd Rower | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Retired | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Casino Cougars | ||
| Professional 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 |
||
Ben Kennedy (born March 14, 1974), known as "BK", is a former Australian 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 the professional code 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.
He 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 Ashes Tests in Britain that year on a condensed Kangaroo tour.
Kennedy was a fiercely competive 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 had 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
