News Harley Bennell - Ends at Freo in 2019

[Dirty_banchez]

With his history and media spotlight, why even put yourself in that position?

An Afl career is a short one but a lucrative one.

If I was signed to a club and told if I kept my nose clean and towed the company line with the promise of a big payday, I wouldn't leave my front door.

Plenty of time to play up when I retire.

This is true. His main crime imo is being too hungover to attend training. Drawing the media spotlight just makes things worse and forces the club to make a statement.

Being kicked out of a club for being drunk isn't a big deal. Players shouldn't be confined to their houses, take Fyfe, he was out having a couple of beers on Saturday night. He keeps to himself and is a total class act. You can still have a few drinks and keep yourself in check.

 

[Freofalcon]

This is true. His main crime imo is being too hungover to attend training. Drawing the media spotlight just makes things worse and forces the club to make a statement.

Being kicked out of a club for being drunk isn't a big deal. Players shouldn't be confined to their houses, take Fyfe, he was out having a couple of beers on Saturday night. He keeps to himself and is a total class act. You can still have a few drinks and keep yourself in check.

No.

Not everybody.

Some people need to assess their lives and ask what's more important.

I love a beer but if I was an AFL player earning a mint, I can go without.

 

[Crippa]

Beats me why but I find these holier than thou comments in relation to Bennell really hard to take seriously.

 

[Steinfreo]

Cool guy surfie dude Blakely missed training didnt he?

 

[E Shed]

He wasn't even arrested. All of this song and dance is to appease the media and the sort of footy supporters who believe all of the players need to also be great blokes.

You don't want to know how scummy some AFL players are who have golden reputations in public based entirely on their ability at footy.

Ultimately everyone would rather Harley kicks four a game, sets up another four with his 20 touches a week and wins a brownlow to go with his premiership medal. He will be a great bloke then.

It isn't unique to AFL footy either.

I think we as viewers attach an emotional connection to "our team" and "our players" so in our mind they reflect on us. We want that reflection to be good so when they play well it validates us, when they do something that embarrasses us by that association we project our feelings onto the player.

So if you're upset about a footy player who turns up to training and runs his nuts off all but one session, could be the best talent in the nation let alone our squad and has a year to show what he has now he is fit.. Well, that's on you.

Outstanding. Wish I could like it twice.
Players in the 80's used to come straight from the nightclub to a game. Stories abound of the likes of David Rhys-Jones smoking a dart, still half cut lacing up his boots. The game should always have room for larrikins and characters.

 

[serial_thrilla]

This is true. His main crime imo is being too hungover to attend training. Drawing the media spotlight just makes things worse and forces the club to make a statement.

Being kicked out of a club for being drunk isn't a big deal. Players shouldn't be confined to their houses, take Fyfe, he was out having a couple of beers on Saturday night. He keeps to himself and is a total class act. You can still have a few drinks and keep yourself in check.

Was it ever confirmed whether he missed training, or was told to stay home after notifying the club of the incident?

 

[salim malik]

He is good at football , he doesn't have to be a friggin saint. If he wants to play senior football he knows what he has to do , if not and he is happy running around in the WAFLor what ever its his life and his business . I hope he is left alone for the next couple of months and all the judgemental sanctimonious pricks leave him alone.

 

[Nodgey]

Lets be thankful he chose not to snort a line of coke to get over that hangover in order to come to training. Can therefore be argued he made a wise decison...

 

[maccamk]

2 down 6 to go.

 

[Lyoncarcass]

He is good at football , he doesn't have to be a friggin saint. If he wants to play senior football he knows what he has to do , if not and he is happy running around in the WAFLor what ever its his life and his business . I hope he is left alone for the next couple of months and all the judgemental sanctimonious pricks leave him alone.

Yeah, see that's a completely naive statement.

Harley is a paid professional, we are a club in the re-buidling phase, you simply cannot be a fanboi for any player, let alone a high paid, risky acquisition like Harley.

You might think it's about the individual, and we should "leave him alone" but the fact of the matter is, he is now mid 20's, we've bent over backward to give him a clean run at prosperous AFL career, we've shown him loyalty, patience and respect and the decision Harley made, after a previous history of undesirable off-field choices, was to go an get pissed the night before full training resumed.

It's another bad choice. Not only that, we have a list demographic which places Harley as closer to the older end our squad, and like it or not, he has to assume some leadership responsibility, he needs to grow up.

If we, as a club, don't come down hard on Harley Bennell at 25 how are we meant to preach, enforce and punish those who do not prepare well enough?

Blakely thinking it was ok to go for a surf could be put down to a young man making a stupid choice, alternatively, we are fostering a professional culture that simply isn't up to scratch. Cox/Ryan missing matches on top of what Johnson pulled last year and we have evidence of a playing group who do not yet understand the requirements nor proffesionalism required to succeed.

My two bobs anyway.

 

[salim malik]

Yeah, see that's a completely naive statement.

Harley is a paid professional, we are a club in the re-buidling phase, you simply cannot be a fanboi for any player, let alone a high paid, risky acquisition like Harley.

You might think it's about the individual, and we should "leave him alone" but the fact of the matter is, he is now mid 20's, we've bent over backward to give him a clean run at prosperous AFL career, we've shown him loyalty, patience and respect and the decision Harley made, after a previous history of undesirable off-field choices, was to go an get pissed the night before full training resumed.

It's another bad choice. Not only that, we have a list demographic which places Harley as closer to the older end our squad, and like it or not, he has to assume some leadership responsibility, he needs to grow up.

If we, as a club, don't come down hard on Harley Bennell at 25 how are we meant to preach, enforce and punish those who do not prepare well enough?

Blakely thinking it was ok to go for a surf could be put down to a young man making a stupid choice, alternatively, we are fostering a professional culture that simply isn't up to scratch. Cox/Ryan missing matches on top of what Johnson pulled last year and we have evidence of a playing group who do not yet understand the requirements nor proffesionalism required to succeed.

My two bobs anyway.

Total bullshit . Punish ,enforce ,preach really.What do think should have happened to those that didn't subscribe to your idea of how they should behave. The birch, sit in the dunces corner, 10000 lines on how to behave. Its a footy club not a monastery. Not all players can be leaders or want to be leaders. What gives you the right to tell some one you don't know to grow up, you have know idea what demons any of the players are facing.

 

[DeanS]

Total bullshit . Punish ,enforce ,preach really.What do think should have happened to those that didn't subscribe to your idea of how they should behave. The birch, sit in the dunces corner, 10000 lines on how to behave. Its a footy club not a monastery. Not all players can be leaders or want to be leaders. What gives you the right to tell some one you don't know to grow up, you have know idea what demons any of the players are facing.

I agree with your statement about not all players can be or want to be leaders but they all have to follow the rules, and that is why the leadership group have punished HB. He broke the team rules.

 

[Wally Walpamur]

I agree with your statement about not all players can be or want to be leaders but they all have to follow the rules, and that is why the leadership group have punished HB. He broke the team rules.

Do you mean not turning up to training? I think that was a result of him getting caught up with security the night before and being told not to turn up to avoid the awaiting media. If he wasn't involved in a scuffle and caught on security camera, it wouldn't have been plastered all over the national media that he was out the night before (which he was technically still on leave, so no team rules broken there) and therefore would've likely turned up to training (maybe not 100% fit from a night out) and this would all have been a non-issue.

Did he make a dumb decision? Yes and he's now paying the consequences of that decision. He's taken his punishment and the world keeps on spinning.

 

[salim malik]

I agree with your statement about not all players can be or want to be leaders but they all have to follow the rules, and that is why the leadership group have punished HB. He broke the team rules.

Yep and now he should be allowed to make his choice the way he handles his banishment and what he wants to do with his life. Some supporters seem to believe that because they buy a membership they own the players .

 

[Lyoncarcass]

Total bullshit . Punish ,enforce ,preach really.What do think should have happened to those that didn't subscribe to your idea of how they should behave. The birch, sit in the dunces corner, 10000 lines on how to behave. Its a footy club not a monastery. Not all players can be leaders or want to be leaders. What gives you the right to tell some one you don't know to grow up, you have know idea what demons any of the players are facing.

Total Bullshit. Nice touch.

Anyway, I appreciate and agree not all players are robots, however when we have afforded a player another shot at an AFL career after literally no one else would touch him and he gets himself kicked off a plane for being too drunk, then gets on the sauce the night before training, gets in a physical altercation with security....well, I think a supporter who pays a membership fee every year is entitled to demand more and expect better.

Players do no walk into clubs blind, expectation, professionalism and performance are all acutely explained to all players entering the system.

From there, it is player choice how they progress. Harley has shown a consistent inability across multiple clubs to make the right choices.

I'm not telling anyone what to do, but I do know a thing or two about creating elite environments so I can offer my opinion.

What I see from the outside in suggest we, Fremantle, have more work to do in that department.

 

[_007_]

Total bullshit . Punish ,enforce ,preach really.What do think should have happened to those that didn't subscribe to your idea of how they should behave. The birch, sit in the dunces corner, 10000 lines on how to behave. Its a footy club not a monastery. Not all players can be leaders or want to be leaders. What gives you the right to tell some one you don't know to grow up, you have know idea what demons any of the players are facing.

Boys will be boys when it's Bennell.

The point is if you don't partake there is no chance of ending up like ben.

Complete abstinence when it's Ben Cousins.

Weird .

 

[Dirty_banchez]

Do you mean not turning up to training? I think that was a result of him getting caught up with security the night before and being told not to turn up to avoid the awaiting media.

He missed training. Nothing to do with being told not to turn up.

 

[Frank J Moose]

He missed training. Nothing to do with being told not to turn up.

How do you know? The club never released a statement that said that.

 

[mightymouse75]

If we kept handling bennel with baby gloves it would show all those ripping draftees that you can bring a piss poor attitude to the footy club. If hb is serious we will find out shortly. Doesn't bother me anymore as long as he isn't bringing a piss poor attitude to Freo.

 

[LeftFootBanana]

Notwithstanding the pearls of wisdom being strung along this thread, the club has made its decision regarding what constitutes appropriate punishment for Bennell.

How he responds will determine whether he remains part of the club's future plans. I'm sure he fully understands that. Harley isn't a leader at our club, other players fill those roles. He just needs to get his head and body right and play good footy. If he can do that and stay out of trouble then there's no need to put the bloke in front of a firing squad.

I've known blokes in positions of authority and responsibility a lot older than Bennell who have done a lot worse than get pissed and scuffle with security.

 

[Carson Dial]

Notwithstanding the pearls of wisdom being strung along this thread, the club has made its decision regarding what constitutes appropriate punishment for Bennell.

How he responds will determine whether he remains part of the club's future plans. I'm sure he fully understands that. Harley isn't a leader at our club, other players fill those roles. He just needs to get his head and body right and play good footy. If he can do that and stay out of trouble then there's no need to put the bloke in front of a firing squad.

I've known blokes in positions of authority and responsibility a lot older than Bennell who have done a lot worse than get pissed and scuffle with security.

That’s how they roll at Perth City Council!

 

[Dirty_banchez]

How do you know? The club never released a statement that said that.

I attend eyes wide shut orgies.

 

[mightymouse75]

It has everything to do with the fans. Where do you think the money comes from that overpays these poor sods.

 

[yyou]

I attend eyes wide shut orgies.

You probably saw me there last night.
I was the tall one in a threesome with the 2 short people

 

[Taylor]

If the AFLPA ever went on strike there would be some funny ads where the voiceover would ask: "what if your workplace had the same demands as an AFL environment?" Then show a traffic controller looking at a P plater on the phone, about to cruise through his 40km zone without slowing from 60, it changes shot to a view of his eyes and his internal monologue of "gotta go Macca, gotta go!" And then he puts on a huge bump, knocking the car down to 40.