Former Essendon defender Conor McKenna has revealed he would be open to a return to the Bombers via the mid-season draft on a part-time basis, perย The Herald Sun.
The 24-year-old returned home to Northern Ireland after a difficult past 12 months after struggling in his return to Melbourne earlier this year and testing positive to COVID-19 mid-season.
โI donโt think itโs totally done. Thereโs a thing in the AFL where you can get a mid-season draft so you can actually get drafted in June and go out from June until September. Itโs only really a two- or three-month thing,โ McKenna said.
โI do think the possibility may be there in three or four years with Gaelic, the way theyโre talking about a split season, if Tyrone was out and the club was out of the championship and there was a possibility of going over for two or three months, itโs not something Iโd close the door on.โ
McKenna has featured for Gaelic side Tyrone since returning home, winning Player of the Month for October, with his side have since been eliminated from the championship running.
Last month McKenna revealed he was finding more happiness following his return to Northern Ireland after six years with Essendon.
โThere is a belief that if youโre a professional sports person youโre happy all the time and itโs all glam,โ he told The Irish News.
โBut for an Irish fella to go over to Australia and live by himself or with a host family โฆ Thereโs definitely a lot more downs than ups for the first two years. Youโre making decent money but itโs not life-changing money and itโs not as good as everybody thinks it is.โ
