{"id":801865,"date":"2026-07-15T13:06:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/801865\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T13:06:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:06:29","slug":"gsfl-2026-afl-greats-josh-kennedy-and-lewis-jetta-to-illuminate-denmark-royals-clash-as-carlton-draft-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/801865\/","title":{"rendered":"GSFL 2026: AFL greats Josh Kennedy and Lewis Jetta to illuminate Denmark-Royals clash as Carlton Draft winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two former AFL greats are set to light up the Great Southern Football League this weekend as Josh Kennedy and Lewis Jetta lock horns for Denmark-Walpole and Royals at McLean Park.<\/p>\n

Eagles\u2019 key forward Kennedy is turning out for the Magpies who gained his services after winning the popular Carlton Draft competition \u2014 and picked him ahead of West Coast and Sydney Swans star Jetta, who will wear Royals\u2019 blue.<\/p>\n

The high profile pair were part of the Eagles famous 2018 premiership win over Collingwood.<\/p>\n

Their appearances will be the highlight of events run by both clubs who meet in NAIDOC round on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Selected from more than 160 community football clubs across Australia, Denmark-Walpole were one of only six chosen to participate in the 2026 Carlton Draft \u2014 an initiative celebrating grassroots football by pairing former AFL stars with local sides for a one-off league match.<\/p>\n

\"JoshCamera IconJosh Kennedy, the West Coast Eagles great, with a Magpies jumper. Credit: Daniel Pockett<\/p>\n

Denmark-Walpole president Sam Keenan was a happy man ahead of the biggest game of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to write a blurb about who our biggest rivals were, and I put Mt Barker, given they are our country cousins,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just unfortunate the players\u2019 schedules didn\u2019t line up with our games against the Bulls, but we picked Kennedy and here we are.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic; it\u2019s great for the club and for the town, which is buzzing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had so many calls about it \u2014 it\u2019s really gone crazy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe committee, social committee and volunteers have all been doing a huge amount of work behind the scenes to get the day off the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone I bump into is going to be at the club \u2014 they can\u2019t wait to see JK and Lewis Jetta take the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal footy means so much to the community as a whole and is a wonderful way to bring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n

With player-coach James Charlesworth bagging goals for fun this season, another full forward in the shape of 2018 flag-winner Kennedy, who kicked 712 goals for the Eagles, will make for a competitive forward line.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt the big dogs will be down for this,\u201d Keenan said.<\/p>\n

He said Kennedy would be at training on Thursday and would also team up with Jetta and much-loved Albany boy Jeremy McGovern, another West Coast great, for a question-and-answer session after Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\"LewisCamera IconLewis Jetta, who played for West Coast and Sydney, with a Royals jumper. Credit: Daniel Pockett<\/p>\n

Jetta will be training with the Royals on Thursday and then facing a question-and-answer session in what club president Brayden Dunkeld believes will be the highlight of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much excitement, we are looking forward to getting him down here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the club, especially for the young players, and I hope everyone gets out and supports the energy we have brought to the Great Southern.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it was great for the league to have past greats involved in a showpiece contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great for the local competition,\u201d Dunkeld said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny exposure is good and having these legends come down is really putting the GSFL on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other AFL legends taking part across the country are Gary Ablett Jr, Gary Rohan, Dyson Heppell and Josh Gibson.<\/p>\n

The league contest between Denmark-Walpole and Royals starts at 2.30pm, headlining round 10 of the season.<\/p>\n

\"AFLCamera IconAFL legends who took part in the 2026 Carlton Draft. Back row: Gary Ablett Jr, Josh Gibson, Dale Thomas, Josh Kennedy and Gary Rohan. Front: Dyson Heppell and Lewis Jetta. Credit: Daniel Pockett<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two former AFL greats are set to light up the Great Southern Football League this weekend as Josh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,135983,64,63,55,639,135984,44,52350,588,85],"class_list":["post-801865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-albany-advertiser","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-great-southern-sport","tag-news","tag-regional-wa","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}