Irish recruit Conor McKenna feels right at home at Essendon despite early homesickness
HE almost quit Essendon two years ago but now Irishman Conor McKenna is settled in at the Bombers and relishing his role as a running defender who is intent on improving his game.
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IT WAS 1am in the morning on a Sunday in May 2015 and Conor McKenna did not know what to think.
The then 18-year-old from the small village of Eglish in the Country of Tyrone in Northern Ireland had already been battling homesickness after accepting a rookie position at Essendon seven months earlier to pursue an AFL career in Australia.
Now some of his closest friends, who he grew up playing Gaelic football with for Tyrone, were about to take to the field for the Grand Final of the All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship.
“You hope they win but you hope you could have been there if they did,” McKenna said this week.
“I’d played with those boys for five years and we’d been to two finals and lost two finals. Then the year I left they won. If I had of stayed I would have won which would be unbelievable back home. So I just questioned why I was here and if I actually wanted to be here.”
The Bombers granted McKenna — who was learning his craft in the club’s VFL side at the time — two weeks personal leave to head back home to Ireland and get his head right.
It worked, McKenna returning to Tullamarine refreshed and determined to make the most of his AFL opportunity.
Two years on, Essendon’s Irish gamble is paying dividends, the now 21-year-old playing regular senior football.
McKenna is averaging 16 disposals at 79 per cent efficiency from his seven games this year, providing run and dash off halfback.
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But it is a different role to the one he envisaged himself playing, having insisted on being a forward when he first joined the Bombers via pick 42 in the 2014 rookie draft — the same position he starred in at Gaelic football.
McKenna kicked a goal with his first kick in his debut match against Richmond in Round 22, 2015 but it became apparent to coaches in his second year last season that the forward line was not the right fit.
Coach John Worsfold summonsed McKenna to a meeting where he suggested a move to defence and the switch is one the young Irishman has since embraced.
“I think when you look at his game now he’s naturally suited to that role as a running halfback that can use the ball really well,” Essendon development coach Paul Corrigan said.
“He’s been in the system for three years and along with the progress that we’ve seen in three years we still think he’s got huge upside as a defender.
“We can still see improvement in his marking, his one-on-one and I think as he just keeps adapting to the game he’ll find more ball and become a real damaging player.”
McKenna has not been the only one who has needed to do some adapting.
Bombers teammates initially struggled to catch every word he said, with the sights of ears pricking up in team meetings common when McKenna asked questions in his thick Irish accent in his early days.
But McKenna’s cheeky nature and signature change room banter have seen him embraced by all those around the club.
Since his initial homesickness, McKenna has also discovered some homely comforts in Melbourne, most notably fellow Irishmen playing AFL and some favourite Irish pubs.
“There are maybe eight or nine Irish fellas under the age of 22 in Melbourne playing AFL,” he said.
“We meet up once or twice a week and just go and watch a game or have a pint and have a feed so that’s good. It definitely helps.”
While out of contract at the end of the season, the now settled McKenna is determined to cement his spot in the Bombers’ team and extend his time at Tullamarine.
However, there is still a pull to go home at some point during his peak years as an athlete, playing senior Gaelic football for Tyrone a lifelong dream.
“I do eventually want to go back and play for Tyrone but I don’t know whether that’s next year or six years or 10 years,” McKenna said.
“While I’m enjoying my footy here there’s no reason why I would go home but I think Tadhg Kennelly went back after eight years and then came back out so it’s always an option.”
Kennelly was the one who put the idea of playing AFL in the head of McKenna, who answered a call from the former Sydney defender out of the blue one day while he was at school in 2014.
A premiership player with the Swans in 2005, Kennelly decided to return to Ireland at age 27 in 2009 and won an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship with Kerry that year.
It is a title double that McKenna now longs to also achieve as the Bombers begin to build after a tough 2016 campaign which saw them finish on the bottom of the ladder.
“He (Kennelly) is the only person in the world to have an AFL premiership and an All-Ireland medal so it would be unbelievable to replicate that,” McKenna said.
“But I just hope I keep playing good football and maybe play finals this year and keep building next year.”
Originally published as Irish recruit Conor McKenna feels right at home at Essendon despite early homesickness
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