JOSH Kennedy says the second goal of his 11 against Greater Western Sydney, which featured a one-off return to his famous stuttering approach, was for his mum on Mother's Day.

 

The key forward was back to his best in the match at Patersons Stadium and jumped into second position in the race for the Coleman Medal, just one goal behind Port Adelaide's Jay Schulz with 25 and level with Hawthorn's Luke Breust.

 

Most impressively, his eleven goals were kicked without kicking a single behind, despite recent criticism of his goalkicking accuracy.

 

It was Kennedy's second 10-goal haul in senior football, the first of them coming against the Western Bulldogs in 2011.

 

After he kicked the goal using the stuttering approach, he even turned towards his mother in the stands. Kennedy said it was a day on which his miskicks had sailed through for goals.

 

"There was one that came off the toe and another one off the shin and there were three of them that shouldn't have gone in, but they did," Kennedy said.

"There was a bit of luck involved."

 

West Coast coach Adam Simpson said it was the best goalkicking performance he had seen in the AFL.

 

"I've been fortunate enough to be watching Buddy at his best and Wayne Carey," Simpson said.

 

"But anyone who can kick multiple goals like that in one game is a special effort.

 

"I thought the players really got around him when he kicked that 10th, which is really good. But they got a little bit carried away. I'm just pleased for the boys and JK as well."

Kennedy said he was happy with his new kicking action, in which he had almost eliminated the stutter.

 

He was also particularly impressed with the way the ball was delivered into the forward line and the goalkicking efforts of West Coast's midfielders.

 

"We were able to win that contested footy and the way we moved it, between the arcs and getting inside 50, was really great today and that makes it a lot easier for us forwards," Kennedy said.

 

"We were able to take a few marks inside 50 and that helped us so it was great."

Simpson said Nic Naitanui had been hit with a bout of gastro early in the week, which led West Coast to hold Scott Lycett out of the WAFL on Saturday. But he had improved enough to take his place against the Giants.

 

Andrew Gaff had a sore ankle and was substituted out of the game, but would be available for West Coast's next game against Collingwood on May 24. The players would get a four-day break before they resumed training, he said.

 

Simpson also said West Coast needed to take a big scalp after only beating the teams placed 17th, 16th, 13th and 12th in 2014.

 

"Yeah, we have beaten sides that perhaps were around the mark we were last year," he said.

 

"To come out and perform like we did, we're really pleased.

 

"But at the same time, we also understand GWS are a developing side. We had to have been a couple of years older, on average, and maybe 40 or 50 games more experienced.

 

"[That was] a big trip for them as well. They're doing some really good things. They looked dangerous at times today. We understand where we're at in terms of today, but we do need a big scalp to have any standing in the competition."