Ex-Richmond footballer Daniel Connors completes four-month drug rehab program

Daniel Connors will soon be allowed to return home to his pregnant partner after completing four months in drug rehab.

Former AFL bad boy Daniel Connors is set to be released from a drug rehabilitation facility following a four-month intensive program.

The gifted footballer, who played for Richmond between 2007 and 2012, was bailed to the Arrow Health facility in Woodend in January after his dramatic arrest by police over an alleged gun-wielding car chase through Melbourne on Christmas Eve.

Connors, 34, was not allowed to leave the facility, only being granted limited day release on weekends to see his family in March.

But he returned to Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday where he successfully applied to vary his bail to allow him to return to living with his partner, who he is expecting his first child with, in Port Melbourne.

Daniel Connors is set to return home to his partner.

Magistrate Belinda Franjic congratulated Connors on successfully completing the rehab program.

“Mr Connors is to be commended on his engagement with the program,” she said.

“He’s clearly done everything right.

“Hopefully this is the start of his rehabilitation journey.”

She also relaxed his bail conditions banning interstate travel, giving him the green light to visit his parents, who had coughed up a $50,000 surety to secure his release from custody, in New South Wales.

Police allege Connors was on bail for drug offences when he joined three associates in a violent crime spree in the early hours of December 24.

Connors was allegedly in the back seat of a stolen Toyota Rav4 as it pursued a silver Volkswagen Passat through Moonee Ponds, Essendon and Coburg about 7.20am.

Another passenger allegedly fired shots at the VW during the wild chase.

Connors is also accused of hours earlier attending at a Carlton apartment complex where CCTV footage shows him lifting up his shirt to reveal a gun in his waistband.

Court documents allege he attended the building with other henchman to standover two victims.

Daniel Connors played for Richmond between 2007 and 2012. Picture: Michael Dodge

In January, prosecutor Michael Roper told the court while Connors is not accused of firing the gun, he was “part of a common purpose” with his co-accused.

“He’s not just there for the ride,” Mr Roper said.

But no motive has been determined, the court heard.

Connors is charged with seven offences over the December 24 incident, including reckless conduct endangering death, using a firearm as a prohibited person and car theft.

Ms Franjic wished him “best of luck” before ordering he return to court next month.

He will not be released from Arrow Health until Wednesday.

Connors’ promising footy career came to an abrupt end when he was sacked for his off-field antics, including a melee with a pub patron at the Shamrock Hotel in Echuca in 2016.