Harley Bennell

Early life

Born into an indigenous family of nine children, Harley Bennell is third eldest of his siblings. He is the brother of former Collingwood Football Club rookie listed player John Bennell and the cousin of West Coast Eagles player, Jamie Bennell.

Junior football

Bennell began playing football competitively at the Pinjarra Junior Football Club at the age of 13. He competed in the juniors side for two years before going through the 2007 season undefeated with his team and tasted his first premiership at age 15. The following year Bennell began playing for the under 16s team at the Peel Thunder Football Club before breaking into the under 18s side and played forward predominately. In 2009 Bennell would be named captain of his high school team at Mandurah Senior College and would go on to play several games for the Peel seniors team in the West Australian Football League at 16 years of age.

Following the 2009 season he was offered an AIS scholarship. By the start of the 2010 season Bennell had experienced a growth spurt and selectors began to take more notice of him as he solidified a spot in the Peel Thunder seniors side. During the 2010 season Bennell would also be picked for the Western Australian under 18s team that competed in the AFL Under 18 Championships, he would walk away with the Larke Medal which is awarded to the best player of the tournament. Bennell would cap off a stunning 2010 season by being picked number 2 in the 2010 AFL draft by the Gold Coast Football Club.

AFL career

He made his AFL debut in Round 2, 2011 in the Gold Coast Suns inaugural AFL match against Carlton at the Gabba. Bennell was dropped for disciplinary reasons after the Gold Coast's round 3 clash. He returned to the team the following week but was again dropped two weeks later. He spent numerous weeks playing for the reserves team and returned to the seniors team for their round 11 clash against the West Coast Eagles in Perth. Bennell would then skip a compulsory training session by staying in Perth longer than allowed by the club. He was once again dropped from the team and sent back to the reserves team. He showed enough in the reserves to earn a recall to the seniors team in round 15 but the Sun's leadership group did not allow him back into the team. The following week he returned against the Sydney Swans and soon after began living with team mate Karmichael Hunt. He would not miss another game and finish the 2011 season with 14 goals from 14 games.

Bennell's 2012 season would be a stark difference to his inaugural AFL year, he would play in all 22 games of the year. He would also end the year with 25 goals and finish second in the club's best and fairest behind Gary Ablett, Jr.

Bennell was dropped from the Suns' team in May 2015 after drinking alcohol during after a game despite the team agreeing to avoid alcohol for the week. In July, The Courier-Mail and Herald Sun newspapers both published a photo on their front pages, allegedly showing Bennell preparing to inhale a white powder, presumed to be an illicit drug. The photo was reported taken in Launceston, Tasmania in March 2013. The photo was published just days after Bennell's former teammate and housemate, Karmichael Hunt's statement to the police, detailing Hunt's use of cocaine with unnamed Gold Coast players, was leaked to the press. Bennell was not selected to play the next game for Gold Coast. On 7 September, after a drunken altercation in Surfers Paradise, the Gold Coast Suns revealed that Bennell would be traded, and he was officially traded to the Fremantle Football Club in October.

Representative football

Bennell made his representative debut for the Indigenous All-Stars in 2013 against Richmond. He was named man of the match and received the Polly Farmer Medal for his efforts.

Statistics

Did not play in 2016 due to injury