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

[MiguelM]

"Tigers forward Tom Lynch underwent hand surgery last Monday and was cleared to play in Richmond’s clash with Sydney on Sunday wearing a glove."

Currently watching the game, he still seems to mark the ball and kick straight with the glove, so...

Thing is finger injuries can be worse.

 

[Mr Bultitude]

Thing is finger injuries can be worse.

Do you mean fingers compared to hands? I'm pretty sure Lynch broke his finger...

 

[MiguelM]

Do you mean fingers compared to hands? I'm pretty sure Lynch broke his finger...

Yeah I was. Didn't realise Lynch's was a finger. My bad!!

 

[Duckworth]

Do you mean fingers compared to hands? I'm pretty sure Lynch broke his finger...

I think doctors generally say that a hand injury is 5 times worse than a finger injury.

 

[jmoo wan]

I think doctors generally say that a hand injury is 5 times worse than a finger injury.

well obviously, because a hand has 5 fingers.

 

[Mr Bultitude]

Seeing Lynch take part, contest, and even get a major today gives me a bit of hope that we see Irish next week.

 

[blitzer]

I love McKenna but the truth is we have enough personnel down back that we can play just fine without him. Saad, Fantasia (for the moment) and Redman already have us covered for smalls then you have Gleeson and Ridley and then our talls. So we'll be just fine.

 

[Highly Evolved]

I guess you could say he can't catch a break... (Sorry, couldn't resist).

I thought he was fairly good in his first game back. Super unlucky and fingers can be very fickle.

 

[JT_the_Man]

Shattering.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

McKenna's Bombers future in doubt, setback for Daniher

Essendon's Joe Daniher has had another injury setback as Conor McKenna reiterated that this season could be his last with Essendon.

www.theage.com.au

 

[eth-dog]

McKenna's Bombers future in doubt, setback for Daniher

Essendon's Joe Daniher has had another injury setback as Conor McKenna reiterated that this season could be his last with Essendon.

www.theage.com.au

Given what's happened I can't say I'd blame him if he did return home. Come back, possibly contract the virus which means he can't play, be the subject of a media witch hunt, then when he finally does return he breaks his finger.

Would obviously still rather him stay for the last year of his contract but again, wouldn't blame him if he didn't return.

 

[Lore]

Could still play Friday depending on how he recovers from surgery.

Essendon defender Conor McKenna remains in contention for senior selection this weekend, despite fracturing his hand during the Bombers' victory over North Melbourne on Saturday night.

Head of medical services David Rundle said the 24-year-old would undergo surgery on Tuesday and face fitness testing later in the week to determine his availability for the clash with the Western Bulldogs under Friday night lights at Metricon Stadium.

“As we know, Conor fractured his hand during our game against North Melbourne. He is a pretty tough character and managed to play out the game, so he’ll have surgery today where they’ll insert a plate to reduce that fracture,” Rundle said.

“Obviously, this week is a tight turnaround ahead of our game on Friday night so we’ll see how he responds to the operation and we’ll assess his functional ability later in the week before we decide whether he can play or not.”

Injury update: Rd 7

All the latest injury news, including minor setbacks for Conor McKenna and Joe Daniher.

www.essendonfc.com.au

 

[eth-dog]

Hm. Prefer we took the conservative approach given we have Redman and Francis still in the 2's

 

[Hamez]

Anyone able to post the article?

 

[Lore]

Anyone able to post the article?

Guessing it's similar to the one in the age earlier:

“I still really don’t know what happened to be honest. Apparently it was a false positive, whatever that means,” he said.

“I got [blood tests] done, that showed up that I maybe had it six weeks ago when I was in Ireland.

“They’re still not sure whether I had it 10 weeks ago in Ireland after a flight or whether I had it three weeks ago.”


“At the end of every season I make the decision about whether to go back or not, if it’s worth my while,” McKenna told the Teamtalkmag Tyrone Facebook page in a video interview from the Bombers' Queensland hub.

“I’ll do the same thing at the end of this season. Take my time, make the decision come Christmas if I want to go back.”

McKenna was full of praise for the way the Bombers had treated him, detailing how the Dons had allowed him to miss one training session a week to instead train with a local Gaelic football team alongside his brother Ryan.

“The club’s been really good. They’re very supportive.”

McKenna's Bombers future in doubt, setback for Daniher

Essendon's Joe Daniher has had another injury setback as Conor McKenna reiterated that this season could be his last with Essendon.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Lore]

Ah, yep. From an Irish Facebook group:

 

[jmoo wan]

so now with have 2 “journos” from both major melbourne papers having done a BTN report on a 45 minute interview Conor did with an Irish news outlet pulling out a sensational headline from a 45 minute interview.

i’d give them each a C-

 

[quotemokc]

He is only 24, is there a way for us to retain his rights if he comes back after 2 years away?

 

[yaco55]

Love how we find out more about Conor from news articles/interviews/podcasts that are sourced from Ireland - It's a unique situation.

 

[Sanj48]

Love how we find out more about Conor from news articles/interviews/podcasts that are sourced from Ireland - It's a unique situation.

I don't blame him for not speaking to anyone from the Australian media anymore, it's been a total farce (not just his own situation but how journos operate generally here trying to get the latest scoop)...

 

[ghostdog]

I don't blame him for not speaking to anyone from the Australian media anymore, it's been a total farce (not just his own situation but how journos operate generally here trying to get the latest scoop)...

Totally agree. The way McKenna was treated precipitated responses like Luke McDonald's. I wouldn't blame him for leaving at year's end.

 

[Lore]

The interview is really interesting, if you can manage the accents I'd recommend giving it a listen. Would probably be easier if you could slow it down slightly but Facebook doesn't have that feature It's a pity Aussie interviewers don't have a go at it to be honest, the muttonhead ex-AFL players that most radio stations seem to employ just give up after 3 minutes without really trying.

In any case they've asked him every type of question about himself, about Essendon, about Daniher and players from other teams (even mentioned Brereton!), about the style of play and strategies and structures in the AFL, rule changes, Shiel's bump (vaguely), his opinion on changing the rules in both Gaelic and Aussie rules football, the equivalent of the 'college system' and how you get into the AFL (completely didn't mention the U18s though, only talked about state leagues), also about the international landscape and other international players in the AFL and particularly other Irish players, the Irish community in Australia and the support he's gotten from them, his experience coming over to Australia, what it's like playing with no crowd (hot tip, he didn't play a single game with zero crowd)...

He also talked about the hub situation in Queensland, and his opinion of these homesick blokes when their families are a 2 hour flight away is kind of amusing. He's like 'well what do you think I've been dealing with for the last 6 years...'

He was meeting up with the other Melbourne-based Irish players once a fortnight too, they were his family away from home until his brother came out. He also said he was training once a week with a Melbourne-based Gaelic team instead of one of our training sessions. (Both a bit difficult currently since he's not in Melbourne though).

But they seem to have brought a Gaelic football to Queensland with them, and got it out at training...

 

[Old Campaigner]

Ah, yep. From an Irish Facebook group:

is there a version with subtitles?

 

[Lore]

is there a version with subtitles?

Not that I'm aware of lol

 

[quotemokc]

The interview is really interesting, if you can manage the accents I'd recommend giving it a listen. Would probably be easier if you could slow it down slightly but Facebook doesn't have that feature It's a pity Aussie interviewers don't have a go at it to be honest, the muttonhead ex-AFL players that most radio stations seem to employ just give up after 3 minutes without really trying.

In any case they've asked him every type of question about himself, about Essendon, about Daniher and players from other teams (even mentioned Brereton!), about the style of play and strategies and structures in the AFL, rule changes, Shiel's bump (vaguely), his opinion on changing the rules in both Gaelic and Aussie rules football, the equivalent of the 'college system' and how you get into the AFL (completely didn't mention the U18s though, only talked about state leagues), also about the international landscape and other international players in the AFL and particularly other Irish players, the Irish community in Australia and the support he's gotten from them, his experience coming over to Australia, what it's like playing with no crowd (hot tip, he didn't play a single game with zero crowd)...

He also talked about the hub situation in Queensland, and his opinion of these homesick blokes when their families are a 2 hour flight away is kind of amusing. He's like 'well what do you think I've been dealing with for the last 6 years...'

He was meeting up with the other Melbourne-based Irish players once a fortnight too, they were his family away from home until his brother came out. He also said he was training once a week with a Melbourne-based Gaelic team instead of one of our training sessions. (Both a bit difficult currently since he's not in Melbourne though).

But they seem to have brought a Gaelic football to Queensland with them, and got it out at training...

View attachment 912859View attachment 912861

Is a gaelic football not a soccer ball?