{"id":249882,"date":"2022-11-10T07:06:38","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T08:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=249882"},"modified":"2022-11-11T00:01:08","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T00:01:08","slug":"cult-heros-shock-call-months-after-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=249882","title":{"rendered":"Cult hero's shock call months after retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffFL cult hero Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti has made a stunning backflip after announcing his sudden retirement from the game five months ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old shocked the league in May when he announced his time in the AFL was over.<\/p>\n

He had taken personal leave prior to that announcement, and did not play during the 2022 season.<\/p>\n

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But on Thursday Essendon<\/a> announced a fresh one-year contract for the Tiwi Islands product\ufeff which will see him make a spectacular return in 2023.<\/p>\n

The exciting small forward, who is a renowned goal-sneak, will add X-factor and experience to a young Bombers line-up.<\/p>\n

\"Anthony<\/p>\n

"We are thrilled that Anthony has decided to come back to the Bombers," club football manager Josh Mahoney said.<\/p>\n

"Anthony took time away from the club in 2022 to focus on life outside of footy. We're comfortable he has taken the time he needs to bring a renewed enthusiasm to return to the AFL and play for Essendon.<\/p>\n

"He is a committed Essendon person who loves playing football and our conversations with Anthony recently led us to believe there was a realistic chance he would come back to Essendon.<\/p>\n

"Once we knew he was keen to return we worked with the AFL on the right pathway back to the club including approval from a list management perspective.<\/p>\n

\"Essendon's<\/p>\n

"We will continue to support him on and off the field and assist in his quest to return to football. We acknowledge a lot of hard work is ahead but feel confident he can achieve his football ambitions and goals at the club he loves.<\/p>\n

"He is loved by players, coaches, staff and fans and we look forward to him returning to Essendon."<\/p>\n

McDonald-Tipungwuti was Essendon's leading goalkicker in 2020, and holds the record for most consecutive games played for the club, appearing in 115 straight.<\/p>\n

He has 153 goals and 126 games to his name to date.<\/p>\n

There is also reports Essendon is keen to bring Irish speedster Conor McKenna back to the club.<\/p>\n

McKenna left the Bombers last year due to homesickness, but is now open to a return to Australia \ufeffand will reportedly meet with several clubs.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffFor a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffFL cult hero Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti has made a stunning backflip after announcing his sudden retirement from the game five months ago. The 29-year-old shocked the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249882"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=249882"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249884,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249882\/revisions\/249884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=249882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=249882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=249882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}