He had seen it work for former mentor Mick Malthouse at Collingwood, who successfully deployed Travis Cloke, Chris Dawes and Leigh Brown to help win the 2010 premiership.
And McKenna wanted a similar set-up.
So the Suns drafted accordingly, taking South Australian Sam Day with pick No.3 in the 2010 NAB AFL Draft and Victorian workhorse Tom Lynch at No.11.
They already had rugged Queenslander Charlie Dixon through a zone selection, and had hoped from the early days this trio could provide a feared forward set-up.
But in three seasons and 66 games, it just hasn't worked out.
Whether it's a Day knee injury, a Dixon ankle or a Lynch knee, the Suns simply haven't been able to get the trio on the park at the same time.
In fact they've played just nine games together during their three seasons.
But all three are fighting fit and excited about playing alongside one another in 2014.
Day is a traditional full forward, Lynch a pack-crashing centre half-forward who can run all day, and Dixon the ruck-forward who has established himself as the Suns' best contested mark.
Newly elected vice-captain Lynch said they would use the NAB Challenge, starting on Monday night against Essendon at Metricon Stadium, to refine a relationship that was still being developed.
"We're always looking to further the chemistry. We've done a fair bit this pre-season together," Lynch said.
"We've been the forwards on the same team (during match simulation), which has been good.
"We've been here for a few years but we haven't played games after games together. NAB, we can trial it and hopefully at the start of the season we're all up and playing.
"It'll be hard to cover us all, so maybe we'll get a mismatch or two."
Despite his own strong pre-season after recovering from a posterior cruciate ligament injury, Lynch has nominated Dixon as the big improver in 2014.
The man mountain looks noticeably fitter and has been dominating at Suns training.
Lynch said it was also time for the team to continue improving.
"I think winning eight games last year we'd improved from the first two years, but now we've matured and are at that 21, 22 years of age and we're ready to take that next step now," he said.
Twitter: @AFL_mikewhiting
