St Mary’s star Harry Benson has signed with Geelong’s VFL side

One of the region’s best local footballers has signed on with Geelong’s VFL side for the 2023 season.

Football GFL: South Barwon v St Mary's St Mary's 9 Harry Benson is chased by South Barwon 18 Jackson Carmody Picture: Mark Wilson

TWO-time Mathieson Medalist Harry Benson has signed with Geelong’s VFL program for the 2023 season.

The 23-year-old Saint is already regarded as one of the GFL’s best-ever talents after polling 25 votes in just 13 games in 2022’s Mathieson Medal count, with the star midfielder missing an extended run with a broken jaw.

St Mary’s co-coach Glenn Keast said he was excited Benson had earned a contract, but was still hopeful to have access to the gun.

“He’s certainly going to share his time between VFL and St Mary’s, he’s been having ongoing conversations about what that looks like,” he said.

Benson has won two GFL premierships to go along with two Mathieson Medals. Picture: Mark Wilson

“We’re quite hopeful that he will be part of our long-term planning.

“It is not beyond the realms of possibility that he got picked up (to play AFL), and if that happened we’d wish him all the best.

“But at this stage he’s definitely going to have a crack at the VFL club.”

It is Benson’s second stint at Geelong, with the midfielder spending a pre-season training at the club in 2018 before being cut.

Benson averaged 27.1 disposals, 4.8 marks, 8.3 tackles and five inside 50s per game in 2022, excluding the match against Newtown & Chilwell when he suffered his jaw injury in the opening minute of the contest.

Keast said the club had a number of options to fill Benson’s role if he had an extended run in the VFL.

“We’ve got some options, we’ve recruited Chris Jansen and Jordan Harper who are bona fide midfielders but we’ve also got guys who have been waiting there for their opportunities,” he said.

“Whether that’s Luke Bartolo who played a fair bit of midfield last year in the reserves or whether it’s Darcy Chirgwin or even a Paddy Dowling who can run through our midfield.

Harry Benson will spend the year lined with Geelong’s VFL program. Picture: Mark Wilson

“There are certainly other options, even someone like Charlie Sprague who pinch hit in the ruck for us but his value is his ability to get around the ground so we can certainly see him playing in the midfield.

“It’s what we’ve been doing over the past five or six years, we’ve usually had 10 or so players on VFL lists any given year, it’s something we manage pretty well.

“Some of those players we’ll see (at St Mary’s), so we won’t see, it’s part of the modern framework of footy that sometimes people will share their time between different levels.

“The journey for us is that we hope they play as much as they want to at that level and if that doesn’t work out then we’re there and ready to continue their development with us.”

Originally published as St Mary’s star Harry Benson has signed with Geelong’s VFL side