Pretty sure Kenny is an attacking midfielder come striker and that Ernie expects alot from him going forward. Occasionally he is less than a turnstile in defense so I really doubt he's been given a lot of defensive responsibilities
Agree with the first part of your statement - but having seen how we have set up in the last couple of weeks he is more playing as another centre mid alongside Reira and Lia out of possession and get's forward out of that role when we have the ball.
I'm not saying he is the bee's knees but he does seem to playing out of position to take advantage of his work rate possibly? (and maybe lack of output)