Sydney Swans coach Paul Roos has confirmed that star defender Tadhg Kennelly will return from Ireland to play with the club next season.

The 28-year-old quit AFL football on the eve of the 2009 season to return to Ireland to chase his dream of winning an All-Ireland Gaelic football title with his native County Kerry.

After that dream was fulfilled in September, Kennelly has decided to return to his second home in Australia.

"It's great news for the footy club - it was all sort of finalised last night," said Roos.

"He's a terrific player and the year off has only helped him from a footy point of view get his body back right and we look forward to seeing him next week."

Kennelly, who was never delisted by the Swans, is expected to sign a two-year deal on his return.

Roos told SEN that the recruitment of Rhyce Shaw and the development of Martin Mattner in defensive running roles may prompt a positional change for Kennelly who's battled to overcome a succession of knee and shoulder injuries during his 158-game career with the Swans.

"The first thing is to get him back as quick as possible, because he's got to step up aerobically from a 90-minute game to a 120-minute, so he really needs to get a good pre-season under his belt and I'm confident he'll do that," said Roos.

"We can do a few different things with him this time, definitely."

Roos travelled to Ireland to watch Kennelly in the All-Ireland final, but said the Irishman's plans were unclear at the time.

"I never really knew to be honest, I didn't speak to him when I was over there," Roos said.

"I had a brief chat to him, probably a couple of weeks ago, when I was pretty sure that was the way he was heading, but until you actually get the final say so and you agree to terms and all those sorts of things, I never really knew."