Harley Bennell to meet with Fremantle officials after strange behaviour at WAFL match

HARLEY Bennell is set to meet with Fremantle officials, including CEO Steve Rosich, on Tuesday over the strange behaviour he displayed at a WAFL match on Saturday. WATCH THE VIDEO

Harley Bennell chats to cousin Treye Bennell at a WAFL match on Saturday. Picture: Channel Seven

HARLEY Bennell will meet with Fremantle officials on Tuesday as his coach declared the injured Docker “needs a reboot”.

Bennell, 24, is yet to play a game for Fremantle since he was traded to the club from Gold Coast at the end of the 2015 season.

WATCH FOOTAGE OF HARLEY BENNELL’S BEHAVIOUR AT THE WAFL MATCH IN THE VIDEO ABOVE

He again found himself amid drama on the weekend with the club investigating his conduct at a WAFL match in Mandurah on Saturday where he twice pulled cousin Treye Bennell from the three-quarter-time huddle for a discussion.

He was spoken to by Dockers assistants Roger Hayden and Marc Webb throughout the day.

It was suggested on Monday that Bennell will never feature for the Dockers, but coach Ross Lyon on Monday night rejected conjecture surrounding his future as “fingernail-deep analysis”.

Harley Bennell chats to cousin Treye Bennell at a WAFL match on Saturday. Picture: Channel Seven

“We had a meeting last week and the plan is for him to play in five weeks, at Peel. That’s the first thing,” he said.

“I understand the conjecture, but it’s fingernail-deep analysis and it’s never as simple as it seems on the surface.”

WAFL: FREO INVESTIGATING STRANGE BENNELL BEHAVIOUR

MORE ISSUES: BENNELL KICKED OFF A FLIGHT

INJURED: BENNELL OUT WITH CALF INJURY

Bennell will meet with club chief executive Steve Rosich and football manager Chris Bond at the club on Tuesday to discuss the matter, which came just weeks after he was banned from a flight from Melbourne to the Gold Coast after flight attendants deemed him to be too intoxicated to be on the flight.

Lyon defended the onballer and said ongoing calf issues had left him “devastated”.

But he conceded the recent chain of events “is not ideal”.

“He’s a great footy mind. He’s elite the way he sees football,” Lyon said on Fox Footy.

“He’s so frustrated — a year and half, he hasn’t played for.

Harley Bennell is yet to play a game for Fremantle. Picture: Daniel Wilkins

“There’s some footage there (from the WAFL game) that can be interpreted in a few ways. I’m not here to defend, I’m not here to castigate. I work closely with Harley, as I do with all of my players.

“But if anyone thinks I’m a soft touch or the club is and that we bend ... everyone has their own circumstance and you need to take everything into account.

“He needs to gather himself (in the wake of his injuries) and give it meaning and come out and rebuild.

“We all go through tough things. He needs to reboot and he needs to get going.”

Perth media reported on Monday that Bennell’s mother Kayleen had taken to social media to vehemently support her son and for people to remember that everyone is “only human”.

Originally published as Harley Bennell to meet with Fremantle officials after strange behaviour at WAFL match