Harley Bennell’s future in the air as ex-coach Rodney Eade says Fremantle has a lot to consider
THE man who coached the Gold Coast when Harley Bennell was sacked by the club has weighed in on the troubled star, declaring there is ‘a cut-off point for everybody’ after his latest indiscretion.
FORMER Gold Coast Suns coach Rodney Eade would love to see Harley Bennell “turn the corner” but there is “a cut-off point for everybody” after the midfielder’s latest off-field indiscretion.
Fremantle yesterday confirmed it was investigating an incident involving a player after vision emerged which appeared to show Bennell wrestling with bouncers at a Fremantle nightclub on Sunday night.
Bennell did not attend training on Monday morning and was unable to be contacted by the club.
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The 25-year-old was believed to be on his final chance last May after he was investigated by the club for his behaviour at a WAFL game.
That incident came a month after he was removed from a Gold Coast-bound flight by airline staff who believed he was under the influence of alcohol.
Bennell is now in the final year of a three-year contract at the Dockers, who lured him west after he was sacked by Gold Coast in 2015.
He has played just two games for the club — in the final two rounds of last season — after being hampered by persistent calf troubles.
Eade, who was coach of the Suns when the club moved to sack Bennell, said Fremantle would have a lot to weigh up in determining Bennell’s future.
“Take him out of it but just in general there is a cut-off point for everybody,” Eade told the Herald Sun.
“If that cut-off point is now I would imagine Fremantle would still offer him support. But there’s individual’s needs but also the club and sponsors and the supporters and other teammates. So it’s about weighing up all that in the one pot and making a considered decision. I think Fremantle wouldn’t take any decision lightly. There will be a lot of consideration about what they think is best to go forward.
“It was great that he got back and played a couple of games last year and I was hopeful that was a turning point for him because he’s had a bit of a rough trot with his body. This latest one, I don’t know the extent of it and what it all means but hopefully he can get through it and turn the corner.”
Bennell’s rap sheet at the Gold Coast included spending a night in lockup for a skirmish with a bouncer, being suspended for breaking drinking bans and being captured taking drugs on the front page of the Herald Sun.
Former Richmond coach Danny Frawley said this morning his message to Bennell was simple: “Pull your head in”.
“At some stage, the Fremantle Football Club have to weigh up the pros and cons of keeping Harley,” he said on SEN radio.
“It’s as simple as that right now in the way the landscape is and the amount of money that has been put into the Fremantle Football Club.
“He was in rehab for 50 weeks (with a calf injury) at some stage. Looking at it now, probably his preparation wasn’t great either.”
Fremantle takes on Adelaide in the first week of the pre-season competition on February 25.
Originally published as Harley Bennell’s future in the air as ex-coach Rodney Eade says Fremantle has a lot to consider