Superstar Eagles forward Josh Kennedy is hanging up the boots this weekend after an illustrious career with the West Coast Eagles.
The infamous 2007 trade between the Eagles and the Blues that saw Kennedy head west was again in the spotlight this week.
A sizeable trade was in the works, with Brownlow Medal winner Chris Judd looking to move to Carlton, with Kennedy heading the other way.
The highly-rated forward told the Eagles he wanted to be a "one-club player" however.
When speaking to SEN WA Breakfast on Friday, Kennedy walked through his decision-making when the opportunity arose.
Like most players returning to their home state, Kennedy admits the decision became easier as he considered the positives of coming home.
โTwo years later the opportunity came up to come back home and I had two years on my contract with Carlton,โ Kennedy said.
โWest Coast wanted to be a part of the deal and โJuddyโ obviously requested to go to Carlton.
โIt was mixed emotions. I wanted to be a one-club player. I wanted to stay at Carlton.
โBut going through the week, going through the pros and cons and looking at West Coast and where they were, it was a really good opportunity.
โI was also able to come home and be closer to family, my sisters were seven and eight at the time and was able to see them grow up and mum was only four-and-a-half hours up the road.
โIt ended up being a no-brainer in the end towards the end of that week.
โI havenโt looked back since then. Iโm glad that I had the opportunity to be able to play in Western Australia at a fantastic footy club.โ
The Eagles would go on to win the 2018 premiership. However, soon after signing to West Coast, Kennedy and the club first needed to suffer a wooden spoon finish in 2010.
But nevertheless, Kennedy became an all-time Eagles great and was able to make the most of moving when he tasted premiership greatness.
The 34-year-ol has recorded 271 games in the AFL, booting 715 goals across stints with the Eagles and Blues.
