AFL trade news day five wrap: Irish former Bombers star teases return, Essendon prepare to table Dunkley deal

Essendon are reportedly piecing together an offer for wantaway Bulldogs midfielder Josh Dunkley.

Dunkley's manager Liam Pickering revealed a deal was on the table ahead of the Thursday deadline, with the Bombers needing to satisfy the Dogs in a trade for the contracted star.

"There will be a deal for everybody if they want to do it. That is really up to the Dogs now," Pickering said on SEN.

The Age reports, the Bulldogs had a list management meeting on Friday, and have warmed to the idea of trading the 23-year-old after initial hesitation.

The Dogs are also believed to be monitoring the Adam Treloar situation at Collingwood. They're unlikely to be able to fit Treloar into their salary cap if they don't lose Dunkley.

Irish former Bombers star Conor McKenna, 24, has teased a return to the AFL, despite announcing his retirement in September to play Gaelic football in his native Ireland.

When he left Australia McKenna was still contracted until the end of 2021. In the last few months he has played three Gaelic football games for Tyrone, but told media the door is still not closed on him returning to Australia to play AFL.

"I don't think [my AFL career is] totally done," he said.

"There's a thing in the AFL where you can get a mid-season draft so you can actually get drafted in June and go out from June until September. It's only really a two or three-month thing.

"I do think the possibility may be there in three or four years with Gaelic, the way they're talking about a split season, if Tyrone was out and the club was out of the championship and there was a possibility of going over for two or three months, it's not something I'd close the door on."

McKenna only played six games this AFL season with a few speedhumps along the way including a positive COVID-19 test and a broken hand.