Sydney Swans to draft retired forward Kurt Tippett as a rookie to satisfy terms of his payout

Retired forward Kurt Tippett will remain a Sydney Swans player in 2019 with the club committed to drafting him as a rookie but he still won’t be playing AFL football. The complicated reasons why revealed.

Kurt Tippett will be rookie-listed by Sydney but won’t be playing AFL next year. Picture: Tom Huntley

Retired Sydney forward Kurt Tippett will remain on the club’s list next year — but he won’t be playing.

Tippett remained a Swans player this year despite his shock retirement in January and while he was officially delisted on Friday, the club will redraft him as a rookie to satisfy terms of his payout.

“In keeping with AFL rules and regulations, it is the club’s intention to redraft Tippett in the upcoming AFL Rookie Draft so that the club can fulfil the terms of an agreed settlement,” the Swans said in a statement.

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“Tippett, who retired from AFL football in January 2018 due to injury problems, is not fit for football and has no intention of returning to the AFL.”

The 31-year-old called time on his AFL career during pre-season following concerns about his ability to get back to full fitness and the length of his recovery after undergoing an ankle reconstruction in October last year.

Kurt Tippett will be rookie-listed by Sydney but won’t be playing AFL next year. Picture: Tom Huntley

Despite the surgery, the injury wasn’t career-threatening so Sydney was able to negotiate a reduced payout figure rather than paying his full salary for the length of his remaining contract.

He was contracted until the end of 2020.

The agreed payout figure has not been released.

“Any contract negotiations are confidential between the player, his management and the club,” then-Swans football boss, now chief executive Tom Harley said earlier this year.

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“He was a contracted player at the time so we had to work our way through that.”

The Swans have, meanwhile, completed a medical examination on delisted Geelong forward Daniel Menzel.

Menzel flew to Sydney from Los Angeles, where he was holidaying with ex-Cats teammates, in a bid to extend his AFL career.

The Swans will now evaluate the results before making a decision on whether to sign him as a delisted free agent.

Sydney moved to clear salary cap space during this year’s trade period with premiership hero Dan Hannebery (St Kilda) and Gary Rohan (Geelong) departing, while fringe defender Nic Newman was also traded to Carlton.

The Swans also delisted Alex Johnson, Dean Towers, Jordan Foote, Harry Marsh, Daniel Robinson, Angus Styles and Jake Brown.

Originally published as Sydney Swans to draft retired forward Kurt Tippett as a rookie to satisfy terms of his payout