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Coach Adam Toohey confirmed the news Monday morning. He said its great Byrnes was returning.

"It's a massive get. We spoke about it last year, he'd be the biggest signing that we've definitely had in our time," he said.

"He's trained a few times with us and just his leadership and knowledge obviously he's been around the AFL his whole life, won premierships, he's fit as a fiddle, so he'll be enormous for us."

Byrnes had committed to play for Gordon in 2020 but was unable to play a game due to COVID-19 forcing the season to be cancelled.

Toohey said Byrnes was still an active member of the side during the layoff, keeping in touch with the group through group messages and video chats, as became the norm for society in 2020.

"Even during COVID-19 last year we had our little Facebook messenger group and he was active on that all through last year as well, so he's been really good for the group, shown he's really keen," he said.

Byrnes will play for Gordon as much as possible but his availability will rest on the Melbourne Demon's AFL schedule.

He is the runner for the Demon's AFL side, juggling that with his role as player development manager.

Toohey said Byrnes won't be available on weekends that Melbourne travel interstate, but will be available if it plays in Melbourne on Friday nights or Sundays.

The AFL have released its fixture for the entire season but have only released locations and dates of games up until round six.

Therefor, Byrnes only knows his availability for Gordon for the first two rounds of the CHFL season. He won't be able to play in round two as Melbourne faces Richmond on the Saturday night.

Byrnes has an existing relationship with Gordon co-coach Ron Watt following his time with Geelong at AFL level. Toohey said this is where the ball started rolling on Byrnes coming to the club.

"Ron was chatting to him and came to me one night and said 'do you think we can fit Shannon Byrnes in' and I said definitely we can," he said.

Byrnes debuted in 2004 and became a regular member of Geelong's side thereafter, winning the 2007 and 2009 premierships.

He crossed to Melbourne at the end of 2012 for 23 more games and 17 goals. In total he played 131 games and kicked 117 goals.

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