Injury forces star forward Kennedy-Hunt out of Corio clash
REIGNING Whitley medallist Jak Kennedy-Hunt has ruled himself out of this weekend’s match against Corio after reinjuring his quad on Saturday.
The Inverleigh star forward, pictured, leads the GDFL goalkicking table for a second straight year with 31 goals from five games, ahead of Bell Post Hill’s Jayden Ett- ridge. While the 29-year-old has earned a rest after guiding the GDFL to a nine-point win over the Heathcote & District, he admits he is devastated to be sitting out of his side’s home clash.
“It’s obviously more than just a corky now that it’s swollen and bruised, but unfortunately it is what it is,” Kennedy-Hunt said yesterday.
The GDFL vice-captain finished with 5.2 and an assist, playing on five-time Bendigo Football League premiership defender Dale Young.
It was enough for him to take out the Daryl Jones Medal, judged by the commentary team, edging out Thomson defender Samuel Jacka, who took countless brave marks down back.
“We only trained together a few times, but we felt like a brotherhood out there, even our young boys were able to get up when it counted,” Kennedy-Hunt said.
Kennedy-Hunt also highlighted the tagging role of Bell Post Hill veteran Adrian Fan- tella on Ryan Semmel, a past contestant on Foxtel’s The Recruit and a past Heathcote & District league medal winner.
Fantella nullified him in the first quarter until the Huntly co-coach suffered a bad corky, before going on to win plenty of the ball himself.
“‘Fantas’ was pretty good, he put his hand up to take on Ryan Semmel and it takes a lot of form to shut down the opposition’s best player and still play the way he did,” Kennedy Hunt explained.
“‘Poodle’ (Luke Wilson) did everything he was asked and more, our backline was solid with Cam Addie and Sam Jacka, and Michael Best was good all around the ground.
“We needed someone to step up in the end and Jayden Ettridge stepped up to the plate and you could have even given the medal to Dylan Witney, who was tough all day.”