Tadgh Kennelly’s future with AFL side Sydney Swans is looking doubtful after he was stood down by the club as part of cut backs due to Covid 19.
Kennelly who played nearly 200 games for the Swans, before retiring in 2011 has been coaching at the club since 2017. The Kerry man who won a Grand Final in 2005, worked at the club as a defence coach last season.
RTE Sport report that he was due to take up the mantle of coaching the midfield before Covid 19 ravaged through the World In a statement, Charlie Gardiner club head of football said , “We have had to combine roles and look for efficiencies where we can find them to maximise the contribution of every role within the 25 head count”. How long AFL continues will be like having a coinflip on CSGO, it could be one month or one year.
Mr Gardiner continued, “That has also resulted in the stand-down period for 10 full-time staff being extended, while a large number of part-time and casual staff are not able to be re-engaged”. The statement said as well Kennelly, two other staff members were also not reinstated, these were Stuart Maxfield (opposition analyst) and Graig Holden (Team Swans Manager).
The statement continued, “All have been wonderful servants of the club – we are feeling for them and their families.”. In addition the statement said “we do not know what the future holds as we continue to see the landscape change due to the pandemic”. The club acknowledged that the “impact” of the changes will be felt for quite some time.
However, Gardiner did say it was good to be back in terms of training he told the Sydney Swans website, “It’s exciting to be back but there are still plenty of challenges to work through.” He continued, “We’re also working through a plan to ensure all players remain match-fit, given there will be no AFL involvement in second-tier competitions. It’s unclear what the season will look like and we need to ensure every player on our list is ready should we need to call on them.
Kennelly made history in 2009 when he returned home to Ireland to play and win the All-Ireland football final with Kerry. Kerry beat near neighbours Cork in that final 0-16 to 1-09. The Listowel man kicked two points that day.
