I gave up paying too much attention to off field behaviour a while back. There is a difference between a truly bad egg and someone in their early 20's who dabbles in the party scene.

Wind the clock back 6 or 7 years and tell me you wouldn't take Dustin Martin over Scully or Trengove. Both stand up blokes, and Dusty is a bit of a goose, but I'll take the better footballer any day of the week.

As long as he isn't a terribly disruptive influence, fighting teammates, potting someone's missus or something along those lines, I think we should go for it.

We have to go for him.

I liken Paul Roos to NBA coaching legend Phil Jackson, who won a bunch of championships with "personalities" like Dennis Rodman, Shaq and Kobe on his teams. He dealt with them by letting them be themselves- he didn't set stupid "team rules" and expect them to be robots. The players appreciated it and repaid it by towing the line.

I can't see why we wouldn't have a crack at Bennell. Super talent, hopefully he out grows the stupid stuff.

We have to go for him.

I liken Paul Roos to NBA coaching legend Phil Jackson, who won a bunch of championships with "personalities" like Dennis Rodman, Shaq and Kobe on his teams. He dealt with them by letting them be themselves- he didn't set stupid "team rules" and expect them to be robots. The players appreciated it and repaid it by towing the line.

Exactly.

Like Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.

There is a difference between a truly bad egg and someone in their early 20's who dabbles in the party scene.

Bennell is probably neither of those, as Emma Quayle's piece alludes to.

I would be annoyed if we didn't try recruit Harley. Fit and firing, he could be a massive addition that our list, that is just showing signs of eventually coming good. Massive.

The potential rewards outweigh the risks IMO

Is Howe for Bennell, all things considered, a reasonably fair trade for all parties? They want to move him on and he comes with risk, with Howe you know what you're going to get.

I think this tread is a carbon copy of jeffy garlet tread, no one is complaining now

Jeffys been down that road and turned - could help Bennell .

He is what we crave !! genuine outsider who can do it all.

I'd imagine the club will see how it plays out first. If no one wants him then we can get him on the cheap to lower the risk.

He just seems like another Fevola type who just can't stop being a #%^head on the booze.

The culture at the Suns is obviously very ordinary. For a club that's only a few years old it goes to show how badly that've mismanaged the development of that culture and the players. Their behaviours are somewhat driven by the environment and the Good Coast has its failings in this regard. The GCS hierarchy didn't really take this into account and neither did the AFL to be fair.

Is Bennell a victim of circumstances that were poorly managed by employer? Probably, however the individual has some serious questions over his ability and drive to work with the club and have a great AFL career.

Is the MFC better equipped? You would think so.

Is Melbourne a better city to be in? Possibly.

Tough call but I agree we should play it cool and see what other clubs forward before showing too much interest.

Whilst he has the attributes to be the player that we need, he also has attributes to create issues in the culture that are not really needed at this time in our list development. We are at a better stage than we have ever been to handle it, but it is still probably an issue for our football department. Am pretty sure we have ruled ourselves out of Bennell, but that said for the right price I am sure we will take anyone.

Are those calling for the recruitment of Harley Bennell the same persons who were demanding the drafting of Dayle Garlett? We could get him cheap this year.

While the clubs culture is undergoing a real improvement, Bennell is not a step in right direction.

disagree bimbo.

bennell is a step in the right direction as he's a bona fide jet who is proven at afl level to perform to incredible standards.

i was ambivalent about garlett as he's not even close to the talent that bennell is. if we want to get better as a club we need to recruit some genuine a-graders. bennell is that.

People blaming the GC culture for Bennell's actions are kidding themselves. Matthew LLoyd mentiond that Bennell was kicked off an International Under-17's tour, which suggests he had issues before he joined GC. He also had disciplinary issues in his 1st season at GC.

Bennell is clearly in the class of Kerr and Cousins on and off the field. The question remains whether the new player illicit drug code will weed him out of the AFL, whereas Kerr, Cousins and some current players had been able to get away with the "party" lifestyle undetected.

would have thought any more discussion somewhat moot.

He would be a part of the problem but not the problem - are our leaders ready to help someone - all clubs would have to deal with recreational drug use.

I like good players so I am open to it - but if the club isn't I get it but it's hard to get good if you have standards - the Hawks are happy not having any.

I'm still each way on Bennell, but would think Jetta and Lumumba would have a better chance of helping Bennell get on track than Hunt.

I do wonder whether recruiting Bennell would potentially impact any recruiting possibilities out of Gold Coast. Would Prestia or O'Meara (for example) avoid a club that had Harley on their lists because they had enough of his distractions? Purely a hypothetical.

Edited September 8, 201510 yr by ChaserJ

I'd love him but what if he has 2 strikes?

A silky smooth 22 yr old forward mid who kicked 6 goals vs Cats... big step up on M Jones, Bail, etc...

Oppositions would freak at the prospect of forward line containing Hogan, Garlett, Bennell and Petracca in 2016.

Looks to be a buyers market, do it!

Absolutely yes. Look at players who've been through similar controversy - Garlett, Liberatore, Martin.

I wouldn't be surprised if the God squad at GC made it sound worse than it was. He's still a kid and kids play up here and there. The up side is more than worth it with Harley imo.

According to the 'Hun' we are not interested too much baggage and I agree!

Next??

Would take him for sure.