Even though their primary purpose is that of a weapon, when quizzing the average layman about boomerangs, most would recognise these symbols of cultural endurance for their colloquial ability to return to their point of origin.
Apart from playing AFL football, each of the 10 names on this list have at least one thing in common โ they all came back to their original clubs after spending time with another.
Although names like David Cloke and Warwick Capper completed their careers back at their first clubs and within the bounds of the AFL era, we have ruled them ineligible due to their peaks arising prior to 1990.
Like Elvis' love letters in the early sixties, these are the 10 best players that were returned to their senders.
6. Dayne Beams
Collingwood/Brisbane/Collingwood
Just like the ink on his right arm, Dayne Beams' career with Collingwood started ablaze.
In his first two seasons with the Pies, Beams averaged 19.25 disposals, 2.72 tackles and just south of a goal per game.
It was in the second of this pair of years that Beams played a more than serviceable role in helping the Magpies to break their 20-year premiership drought.
The midfielder's peak as a Pie came in 2012, when he averaged 30.9 disposals across his 24 appearances, winning the Copeland Trophy, a place in that year's All-Australian team, as well as 19 votes on Brownlow night to finish equal seventh.
Following off-field controversies and the news of his father's ill health, Beams joined his brother Claye at the Lions for the 2015 season.
Although his time in the sunshine state only lasted four years, Beams won Brisbane's best and fairest in 2015 and a trifecta of Marcus Ashcroft medals, including both on offer in 2017.
Citing a desire for a fresh start at an old abode, Beams re-joined the Magpies for nine games over the last two years at the cost of two first round draft picks.
After hanging his boots up at the end of 2020, the former Southport Shark was awarded with Collingwood life membership at the club's 2021 AGM.
