At the age of 27 and in his 10th season of AFL football, Josh Kennedy on Sunday reaches the 150-game milestone. That's a significant legacy by any measure. And yet one which beyond Perth is perhaps still undersold.

For many without a keen interest in the fortunes of West Coast, the sheer talent of the big key forward has often played second fiddle to trivia.

For the early part of his career, it was as the other half of the trade which lured the Eagles' hero and captain Chris Judd back to his native Victoria to play with Carlton. Then the focus shifted to the stuttering, comical-looking run-up he'd take on his approach to shots at goal.

Even his name has been the subject of endless clarification, one shared not only with a star Sydney midfielder, but a Socceroo striker. But it would take some degree of football ignorance to get him mixed up with that other pair now.

The West Coast Kennedy goes into the round-10 clash with North Melbourne in Hobart on target not only to win the Coleman Medal, but with 37 goals to date, also on course to rack up the highest season tally the AFL has seen since Lance Franklin in 2008.

Three of the past four seasons, the bearded spearhead has finished with just on 60 goals. At his current rate, he'll end up with 90 before we even get to September.

Kennedy is not only leading the Coleman race, he's also ranked first in the AFL for marks and disposals inside 50, scoreboard impact and score involvements. And with fellow key forward Jack Darling out injured all season, all this while remaining the main focus of opposing defences.

It's been a performance certainly worth a lot more fanfare than it's received. In fact, West Coast forwards coach Justin Longmuir admits to sometimes scratching his head over how little attention Kennedy seems to attract. Not that the man himself is in the slightest bit worried, rarely interested in a profile even on milestone occasions such as this.

"I probably don't think he does get the credit he deserves, but that wouldn't bother him one bit, he's so team orientated," Longmuir says. "He'd rather the guy who kicks it to him gets the reward. He'll get so shitty on himself if he kicks a point because he feels like he's letting down the guy who kicked it to him, he's that type of person."

Some coaches have to ride their players pretty hard. Longmuir, now in his fourth year at West Coast as an assistant coach, doesn't have to push Kennedy at all. Nor does senior coach Adam Simpson. Nor did his predecessor John Worsfold. And on a list of more than 40 players to deal with, that's much appreciated.

"He's really generous with his time with young kids," says Longmuir, citing an example only this week with young Eagle forward Fraser McInnes. "The other morning, I was going through some vision with Fraser at 8am. 'JK' wasn't due in until 10, but he just came in off his own bat."

Forward coaches these days spend as much time preaching the gospel of defence as goals. That's another area where Kennedy gets a big tick.

"He's always held the defensive side of his game right up there," says Longmuir. "He's never been a 'kick it to me, kick it to me' type. He's willing to chase and tackle, and as a leader of the forward line he's always pushing that area of the game. It certainly makes my job a lot easier.

"He's probably the most competitive player I've ever coached, and the hardest working. We've got a lot of hard-working players, like Matt Priddis, and he's right up there with them. If you came and watched us during pre-season, you'd be mesmerised by the way he trains."

The structure of West Coast's forward line has changed significantly since the Eagles rose from the wooden spoon to a preliminary final spot in 2011. Back then, Kennedy had an army of talls for company, Darling, Quinten Lynch, Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui.

This season, with Lynch long gone, Cox retired and Darling returning to the WAFL only this week after a navicular injury, Kennedy's only fellow tall forwards have been resting ruckmen Naitanui and Callum Sinclair, and rookie McInnes, the build more around medium-sized forwards like Mark LeCras, Josh Hill and Jamie Cripps.

That allows opponents to often drop a spare man in front of Kennedy's space, but overcoming the clutter has been a focus, and the work is paying off, the big man kicking goals from general play as regularly as from marks.

"The big thing we've worked on this year is the contested side of his game," says Longmuir. "He's had a real focus on just halving contests rather than always trying to win them, and by having that he's been stronger and actually probably winning more of them. He's the leading contested possession winner inside 50 in the comp. That's the thing that's probably taken his game to the next level."

And aesthetically at least, so has Kennedy's ditching of that unique run-up when kicking at goal, one which not only channelled visions of Fred Flintstone ten-pin bowling, but at times produced audible laughter from crowds.

It wasn't that, or any inaccuracy, which inspired his reverting to more orthodox methods at the start of last year, but a game against Greater Western Sydney in 2013 in which, Longmuir admits, things began to get out of control and Kennedy ended up creeping too close to the man on the mark.

It's worth noting that in the same game last season, Kennedy kicked 11 goals straight. And he's already kicked a bag of 10.1 this season against Carlton. His conversion rate hovers around the 65 per cent mark, a figure many forwards would kill for.

"If he makes his mind up he wants to change something, he'll do it," Longmuir says. "It took a little while over a pre-season, but it's worked pretty effectively. Every now and then he'll have a couple of little stutters, but if he focuses on his last three steps, he's usually fine."

West Coast had some jittery moments when Kennedy hurt his elbow recently, provoking speculation he may require surgery and miss the rest of the season. But the mutual decision to play on appears justified, the full-forward not appearing compromised. His goalkicking tally certainly hasn't, 14 coming in the last three games.

In a season rapidly building towards something special for Kennedy, and perhaps even his team, the last little flaws in his armoury are being ironed out. And lack of individual recognition? Hardly a flaw. Indeed, given his team ethic, you suspect the now 150-gamer probably wears that more as a badge of honour.