Retired #45: Conor McKenna ☘️ - Returning to the AFL to play with Brisbane - 17/11

[Bjchan13]

You can go to the club of your choice 12 months later... it's what we call the Mumford rule.

Standard Player Contracts end on October 31 each year, but the player is bound to the club they were at that year until the conclusion of the draft, unless they qualify as a free agent. That's how trades work, otherwise it'd be a free for all like in the European soccer leagues.

After the draft you have the pre-season supplemental selection period (SSP), which enables clubs to fill any remaining spots on their rookie list and any further spots created by long term injuries and retirements. It is only open to past players that have been out of the game for 12 months, delisted free agents, and players who nominated for the draft and weren't selected.

Delisted free agency eligibility requires that the club initiates the delisting. Retiring or delisting yourself doesn't count. So if you delist yourself or retire, you're still bound to the club you came from until after the draft, and your only option is to nominate for the draft if you want to get back in (which you can do without delisting yourself anyway, simply being out of contract allows you to nominate for the draft).

The next possible opportunity to return to AFL for a former player is via the mid-season rookie draft, which is exactly the same eligibility as the SSP except that it's a draft, the contracts are 6 or 18 months only, and you don't get to choose which club you go to. As a former player he would be able to put a price on his head though, which a never-drafted player under a certain age can't do.

So in terms of someone in McKenna's position, if you wanted to do it on purpose, you'd have to sit out for 12 months first, and then wait until the free agency, trade and draft periods are over, clubs have all filled their lists, and then, if the club has a list spot available, and enough cap space to pay you, then you can sign wherever you want as a rookie.

And then on top of that, if you're getting paid out at all as part of retiring, then you lose that money (or part thereof) if you start getting paid by another club. So there's an incentive not to go elsewhere in that circumstance.


It's rather a lot of hoops to jump through which is why people generally speaking don't do it.

So technically, JHF couldve retired middle of this year, sat out 2023 and then signed with Adelaide for 2024

 

[Lore]

So technically, JHF couldve retired middle of this year, sat out 2023 and then signed with Adelaide for 2024

Yes

 

[yodellinhank]

AFL delisting news: Cyril Rioli is technically not retired

Form 40: Technicality means Rioli can be snapped up by AFL clubs

www.foxsports.com.au

I was going off this scenario, and it's been mentioned previously on BigFooty somewhere as well.

Should've snapped up Rioli

 

[Vander18]

He’s a talent but have to say that I have no real interest in seeing him come back.

Was always prone to brain fades and home sickness plus his passion for the game is very questionable. His main driver is obviously $$$, Gaelic is his first love.

He’s not a guy you can rely on.

 

[ant555]

He’s a talent but have to say that I have no real interest in seeing him come back.

Was always prone to brain fades and home sickness plus his passion for the game is very questionable. His main driver is obviously $$$, Gaelic is his first love.

He’s not a guy you can rely on.

I think you get what you get. All things equal he stays for his full contract last time if there is no pandemic.
His passion for the game was fine until he got locked in a bubble and had the media all over him.
Wherever he goes he will give them 100% for how long he is here.
WA and SA players get homesick as well. Plenty of them heading home again.

 

[eth-dog]

Still can't shake the feeling that we're in it up to our eyeballs here. Would love him back and to play however many more games in 45 he needs to get his name on the locker.

 

[Don Won]

There is also a chance that he burned his bridges and is not welcome back.

 

[Lore]

There is also a chance that he burned his bridges and is not welcome back.

Unlikely. The only people at the club who are still there are Dodoro and a few teammates

 

[ant555]

Still can't shake the feeling that we're in it up to our eyeballs here. Would love him back and to play however many more games in 45 he needs to get his name on the locker.

Have they detailed his car for him ?

 

[Don Won]

Unlikely. The only people at the club who are still there are Dodoro and a few teammates

The most likely person for him to have burned would be dodo. Might have been sticking his neck out for Connor when he returned to Ireland the first time etc. Pure hypothetical. But another possibility.

 

[jmoo wan]

with Conor and Hird coming back we should dust off the #backin hashtag

 

[Vander18]

I think you get what you get. All things equal he stays for his full contract last time if there is no pandemic.
His passion for the game was fine until he got locked in a bubble and had the media all over him.
Wherever he goes he will give them 100% for how long he is here.
WA and SA players get homesick as well. Plenty of them heading home again.

Yeah but (generally) for the WA and SA playing footy is their dream….it’s a bit different.

I’m not rabidly anti it but I’m more than ok if it doesn’t go ahead.

 

[Ants]

There isn’t an 18 month rule to my knowledge.

As far as Liam Jones is concerned:

Carlton eligible for compensation on Liam Jones

Liam Jones, expected to join the Western Bulldogs on a three-year deal, has been deemed a free agent by the AFL, giving the Blues potential compensation.

www.theage.com.au

McKenna was not on our list long enough to be a free agent, and wouldn’t have been even if he’d seen through the contract he was on when he retired, which would’ve finished at the end of 2021 and therefore 7 years service (needs 8 to be a free agent).

Well, if the AFL insists he's not a FA he can just come back to us and play with us until he is!

Don’t you think it’s weird that Essendon is not mentioned at all in the reports he wants to come back to Vic?

Surely journals are asking the question of his management.

The lack of comment makes me think we are still in the mix as one of his possible destinations

The way the media found out that Conor wants to be in Victoria was that Brisbane let them know that. The only information is from clubs. If we're saying "no comment" to this (and everything else) and not leaking then the media wouldn't have a clue one way or the other.

 

[Albertross]

I enjoyed watching him play in the Rad and Black, however, in the grand scheme of things, as to where the club is at currently, if he comes back, great! If he doesn't, it's such a minor blip, and I mean a grain of sand on a Gold Coast beach minor, that it won't even register on my rage monitor.

 

[TheFrenchCut]

with Conor and Hird coming back we should dust off the #backin hashtag

It served us so well in its first era

 

[rusman]

Tyrone sounds like his big black bodyguard that is sick of having to clean up after his s**t already.

“It was a funny angle”

 

[rusman]

 

[fishardansin]

A serious no-brainer for me.

 

[boncer34]

Geelong bound

 

[boncer34]

Lore can this go back to the history board since he's not coming back.

Bump

 

[Don Won]

Geelong bound

Because he wants to be a horse trainer?

There must be someone who trains horses or owns horses in one of our useless Coterie groups. Surely there are some Stud farms etc just out of Tulla, we're essentially in Horse Racing central.

 

[Lore]

Beerfish

bump

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Because he wants to be a horse trainer?

There must be someone who trains horses or owns horses in one of our useless Coterie groups. Surely there are some Stud farms etc just out of Tulla, we're essentially in Horse Racing central.

It’s weird. I read the article. What the hell does it even mean? It just says Geelong are in the box seat because he wants to be a horse trainer. Huh?

 

[MiguelM]

It’s weird. I read the article. What the hell does it even mean? It just says Geelong are in the box seat because he wants to be a horse trainer. Huh?

And if he goes to Sydney he will be trained by a Horse!

 

[Pweter]

I really don't begrudge him not playing for us. Given a choice between a basket case or a not basket case, the decision is simple for him.

Conor, my advise though, hoops will make you look fat, the sash is slimming. Think about it.