Kennelly to make decision about Kerry return at end of AFL season

TADHG KENNELLY has sparked more speculation about a possible return to the Kerry fold by admitting he is unsure if he will remain in Australia when his contract with AFL outfit Sydney Swans expires at the end of this year.

The Listowel man said he will not make a decision on his future until the season ends.

The 29-year-old, who remains the only GAA recruit to win an AFL premiership, took a break from Aussie Rules in 2009 to return home to win an All-Ireland with Kerry and promptly returned Down Under for the 2010 AFL season.

He looked like he had never been away and played 20 games, despite suffering a knee injury.

“I honestly don’t know. I’ll play out the rest of the year here and see how I go,” Kennelly told Australian media.

“It’s always been appealing obviously for me to go home but I’m loving it here. This club at the moment you can see it’s very much pushing towards a window of winning a premiership.

“We just missed obviously last year in the (semi-final against Western Bulldogs) and that’s what we’re pushing towards this year as well.”

Meanwhile, Kennelly is pushing hard to be available for the opening game of the season against Jim Stynes’ Melbourne on March 26 after dislocating his knee while in Ireland for Christmas.

“I trained yesterday so it’s just obviously trying to catch up and trying to get myself ready for Round 1.

“I feel good, I feel ready to go, it’s just whether I get enough footy conditioning into myself to be ready to play is the question. I’m ready to play and I just feel good too, more than anything else, I feel great mentally and physically.”

Sydney coach John Longmire, while happy to keep the Irishman operating as a pivotal part of the team, said he will he look at the grander scheme of things before he picks his squad for the Dees clash.

“We’ll just have to wait and see, he hasn’t really spent much time training with the group,” Longmire said.

“Obviously we want to win Round 1 but there’s also the bigger picture at stake as well and we want to make sure he’s prepared soft-tissue wise ... so we certainly won’t be taking any risks with him.”