Delisted Fremantle midfielder Harley Bennell refuses to give up on AFL career
Harley Bennell still hopes to revive his AFL career and recently met with a club captain, while as many as six clubs showing some level on interest in the delisted Docker.
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Harley Bennell has met Sydney co-captain Josh Kennedy as the injury-cursed midfielder edges closer to an AFL lifeline.
The Herald Sun understands Kennedy recently sat down with Bennell, with the former Gold Coast and Fremantle onballer refusing to surrender his career.
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Sydney have been among the most active of as many as six clubs to express varying degrees of interest in Bennell, with Swans leaders earlier this year contacting his former teammates for character references.
Bennell, 26, has played only two games in four years due to endless calf injuries.
But his delisting by Fremantle earlier this year saw his manager Colin Young put him in touch with renowned sports physio Peter Stanton in Geelong.
Two calf operations — one on each leg — to remove muscle pressing on a nerve have the Bennell camp confident they have found the answer to his complex problems.
While he hopes to be running in two weeks’ time, the expectation is that Bennell will be on a modified program until the new year.
Bennell met his surgeon in Melbourne last week and is expected back in the city in the next fortnight for more meetings with AFL clubs.
In Bennell’s favour is the extra access clubs now have to acquiring talent and recent success stories in the form of Richmond pair Sydney Stack and Marlion Pickett.
The Swans, or any other club, can sign Bennell as a delisted free agent or in the new pre-season supplementary selection period as a rookie.
The latter means a club would be able to see if Bennell got through an intense pre-season program before making an official commitment.