Revealed: Why Melbourne dropped Harley Bennell despite his encouraging debut
Harley Bennell isn’t injured. He was just dropped. Why have the Demons made the decision to not play one of their most talented players, even after he had 14 disposals in his club debut?
Melbourne
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Harley Bennell was dropped by a Melbourne side not yet prepared to expose him to a full match-day load despite his excellent 14-disposal debut.
The Demons’ decision to overlook the exciting linebreaker mystified many in the AFL industry given his performance on 50 per cent game time, hitting targets with 86 per cent efficiency.
He will play in a scrimmage against Geelong at Port Melbourne on Sunday morning in an attempt to build his loads and win back selection.
Bennell’s understanding is that he was simply dropped on form and will have to work his way back into the team.
He has been running at full speed for months and despite the limits put on his game time by Melbourne has no physical issues despite his long-running battle with calf tears.
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Demons coach Simon Goodwin talked about him working his way back to “full fitness and full form” on Thursday before he was overlooked for Mitch Hannan and Aaron vandenBerg, who are confirmed starters against Geelong.
He has no injury issues after taking part in a four-quarter MCG scrimmage between Demons players last week.
Melbourne believe he still needs to get his legs underneath him so he can play closer to 80 per cent game time with his full explosive power.
Once he is able to do that the Demons believe he will play every week but made a selection call on him against two players with no game-time limits.
In effect the Demons preferred players who will play at around 85 per cent match time to a player they believe might play 65 per cent game time and is not yet at his full physical limits.
Bennell was the only player left out of the club’s squad for Sunday’s game, with Michael Hibberd, Jay Lockhart and Kysaiah Pickett also added to the 26-man squad.
Goodwin said on Thursday it was a tough selection call but Bennell wasn’t yet at 100 per cent fitness.
“Obviously selection’s tight, so we’re still working Harley back to his full fitness and his full match condition,” Goodwin said.
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“There’s clearly a lot of expectation on Harley to be in the team every week – that certainly won’t be the case.
“He’s a player that we want to see as a long-term player and … we want to make sure he can sustain the full rigours of an AFL season.
“He’s still working his way back to his full fitness and full form that he knows he’s capable of and we know he’s capable of, and he’s progressing well.
“But clearly we’ve got to continue to limit the expectations of selection every week.”