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WELCOME TO THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - HARLEY BENNELL

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10 minutes ago, Watts the matter said:

What confirmation are you actually looking for?

The latest I read was that he was invited to train with us starting December 3rd?

It's in his best interests to not train with anyone before that date to leave his options open at other clubs and be able to sign as a delisted free agent at any club.

If Bennell is keen to get a kick in the AFL he is going to have a Pre-season run with an AFL club. Dee's have invited him and Burgess will assess how Bennell runs. You better believe other clubs will be sneaking a peak at him too when he does. 

If Bennell is a no show then we are not going to cry over it.

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    14 minutes ago, Youngwilliam said:

    If Bennell is keen to get a kick in the AFL he is going to have a Pre-season run with an AFL club. Dee's have invited him and Burgess will assess how Bennell runs. You better believe other clubs will be sneaking a peak at him too when he does. 

    If Bennell is a no show then we are not going to cry over it.

    Yes, but he loses his right to choose a club if he trains before that date.

    It would be a bad decision for him to train with a club prior to the draft, therefore, I wouldn't expect any action on this front for the next month.

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    1 minute ago, Watts the matter said:

    Yes, but he loses his right to choose a club if he trains before that date.

    It would be a bad decision for him to train with a club prior to the draft, therefore, I wouldn't expect any action on this front for the next month.

    that's how i understand it.........unless some club wants to jump over the cliff and make an offer without seeing him train

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    What's to stop him getting a few mates from the amateurs or similar and they go for a serious kick at a local oval. Just so happens one of the mates drops the location on twitter the day before. 

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    4 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

    What's to stop him getting a few mates from the amateurs or similar and they go for a serious kick at a local oval. Just so happens one of the mates drops the location on twitter the day before. 

    are you gen z? ?

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    My understanding is...

    He can start 'paid' training with us on the 3rd (or anytime for anyone for that matter from here on).  But assuming he starts (paid training) with us, we can select him for pre-season matches and also have the exclusive chance/choice of picking him up in the SSP. (ie; try before you buy).

    His other option from today...

    Randomly train for free with one or more clubs (obviously with an invite to do so), and IF he did, he then needs to nominate for the draft to be picked up by whoever (assuming one or more clubs are willing to do so after monitoring his progress etc).

    Edited by Rusty Nails

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    If he's unlikely to play in 2020 then what's the point? Would like some more info on his expected return now. Any doctors here that know the surgery details and likely recovery times? I'd just assumed he was ready to start training and play round 1?

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    1 hour ago, SFebes said:

    If he's unlikely to play in 2020 then what's the point? Would like some more info on his expected return now. Any doctors here that know the surgery details and likely recovery times? I'd just assumed he was ready to start training and play round 1?

    well starting in dec3 means he doesn't have a full preseason. he also had 2nd op in September and hasn't trained since (at least not at any serious level). he also hasn't got much fitness base from the last 4 years. he'll also start in rehab, probably for more than 4 weeks.

    now add all that up, and assume his ops successfully solve his calf problems,  there's no way he's ready to play round 1. when he is ready he'' need to prove match fitness and skills via casey

    again, assuming ops successful, i'd guess his earliest start would be about 7 to 8 weeks into season. i think those speculating mid season are more pessimistic. so, let's say somewhere between round 7 and mid season for a senior debut

    Edited by daisycutter
    fixed up op date

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    I like the idea of him, but can he even run anymore? what's his base conditioning like (should we be treating him like a player out of the U18's and not plan to play him at all)? Happy to get as i don't think there is potential talent on list, expecting nothing, but if he manages to regain conditioning and can actually play well - well that's great (i.e. thinking trengrove at this stage and hope for pre injury Bennell).

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    If the draft is compromised next year, then adding Bennell for 2021 may be a solid move!

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    19 minutes ago, Wunders said:

    I like the idea of him, but can he even run anymore? what's his base conditioning like (should we be treating him like a player out of the U18's and not plan to play him at all)? Happy to get as i don't think there is potential talent on list, expecting nothing, but if he manages to regain conditioning and can actually play well - well that's great (i.e. thinking trengrove at this stage and hope for pre injury Bennell).

    Stats from his past 10 WAFL matches.

     

     

     

    6F4261FA-336F-4545-AE86-E02690715154.png

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    Offer him a rookie spot maybe.  see how passionate he really is. 

    work in some targets to meet with a promise of a senior contract the following if met

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    21 minutes ago, SFebes said:

    If he's unlikely to play in 2020 then what's the point? Would like some more info on his expected return now. Any doctors here that know the surgery details and likely recovery times? I'd just assumed he was ready to start training and play round 1?

    My very amature take >

    If it takes 48 days to get over a grade 3 calf tear SF....add 2 to 3 weeks as it was surgery.  That's about 10.  When was his last opp?  DC says July although he had two rounds.  Was that his last round?

    10 weeks from July...that's a full (standard citizen's) recovery by about mid Sept.  Are we safe to assume he might be fine to begin light loading nowish (ie: 6 weeks further on).

    But lets say we are all wrong/dates are out on the last opp (recovery longer etc) and he wont be ready to do anything till 3rd Dec.

    Add two to three weeks for initial loads.

    Say another 4 to get him to a level ready for a full pre-season (and possibly a staggered stepped up one on a non-normal program over about 10 weeks to be super conservative).

    Normal pre-season say approx 6 weeks.  Bennell's is say 10.

    That's 17 weeks.(approx) from the 3rd.

    That's about 31 March.

    Then he would need to ease in at VFL level progressively.  Say 4 weeks.

    Add say three weeks for a minor setback....

    That puts him available at about 24th May Rnd 10 vs the Doggies on a Sunday.

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    19 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

    My very amature take >

    If it takes 48 days to get over a grade 3 calf tear SF....add 2 to 3 weeks as it was surgery.  That's about 10.  When was his last opp?  DC says July although he had two rounds.  Was that his last round?

    10 weeks from July...that's a full (standard citizen's) recovery by about mid Sept.  Are we safe to assume he might be fine to begin light loading nowish (ie: 6 weeks further on).

    But lets say we are all wrong/dates are out on the last opp (recovery longer etc) and he wont be ready to do anything till 3rd Dec.

    Add two to three weeks for initial loads.

    Say another 4 to get him to a level ready for a full pre-season (and possibly a staggered stepped up one on a non-normal program over about 10 weeks to be super conservative).

    Normal pre-season say approx 6 weeks.  Bennell's is say 10.

    That's 17 weeks.(approx) from the 3rd.

    That's about 31 March.

    Then he would need to ease in at VFL level progressively.  Say 4 weeks.

    Add say three weeks for a minor setback....

    That puts him available at about 24th May Rnd 10 vs the Doggies on a Sunday.

    sorry, july was 1st op. 2nd op was sept...................will try and edit prev post

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    On 10/31/2019 at 4:07 PM, Cheney said:

    Massive risk with huge reward. At the end of the day we need to back our medicos and coaches to make a decision. Bennell could influence the decision of Jack Martin. Imagine both of those boys fit and firing in our forward line. 

    If this is a potential sweetner to get Jack Martin over the line for the right price, then it could prove to be a very shrewd bit of business by the Dees.

    Pending his operations and recovery all go according to plan.

    Edited by Win4theAges

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    3 minutes ago, Win4theAges said:

    If this is a potential sweetner to get Jack Martin over the line for the right price, then it could prove to be a very shrewd bit of business by the Dees.

    Not that I’m getting carried away... but Langdon, Tomlinson, Bennell, Martin, pick 3 and 8... that’s a pretty good trade/draft period.

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    25 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

    sorry, july was 1st op. 2nd op was sept...................will try and edit prev post

    That still puts him (roughly) in that ten week recovery window DC.  Maybe a few weeks short if he did happen to start with us on the 3rd Dec.

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    1 minute ago, Rusty Nails said:

    That still puts him (roughly) in that ten week recovery window DC.  Maybe a few weeks short if he did happen to start with us on the 3rd Dec.

    maybe, if, the 10 weeks is applicable.......but then he is coming back with virtually no good fitness. he's still going to be quite underdone come dec 3

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    Just now, daisycutter said:

    maybe, if, the 10 weeks is applicable.......but then he is coming back with virtually no good fitness. he's still going to be quite underdone come dec 3

    Correct DC.  I've allowed 7 weeks up there as a super rough guesstimate for a soft load up from the 3rd.  And that's just to ease him to a level needed to be ready to start an adjusted pre-season.

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    5 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

    maybe, if, the 10 weeks is applicable.......but then he is coming back with virtually no good fitness. he's still going to be quite underdone come dec 3

    Those pies in the sky are storm clouds. Yes, we need the rain desperately but we don't need another injury-prone list dweller, I don't care how good he was in 2014...

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    4 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

    maybe, if, the 10 weeks is applicable.......but then he is coming back with virtually no good fitness. he's still going to be quite underdone come dec 3

    If Harley is able to fully recover from his injury, with the talent he possesses, I'm happy for him to take as long as it takes to get him back on the park. 

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    • Like 4

    I'm all for this. Very low risk if it doesn't work out. High reward if it does.

     

    To put the risk factor into perspective how many players have come back from not playing for 4 years?  I can only think of Daniel Menzel who was great for a couple of years and then faded out. Although to be fair Bennell played 4 WAFL games this year and 6 last year so got through rehab both seasons to start playing.

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    2 hours ago, TeamPlayedFine39 said:

    Stats from his past 10 WAFL matches.

     

     

     

    6F4261FA-336F-4545-AE86-E02690715154.png

    Interesting numbers. Do they suggest he played the first 2 of his 4 games this year through the midfield, and the last 2 in the forward line? There's a massive drop off in the numbers there, perhaps he wasn't in the right shape to be playing those last 2?

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    1 hour ago, Win4theAges said:

    If this is a potential sweetner to get Jack Martin over the line for the right price, then it could prove to be a very shrewd bit of business by the Dees.

    Pending his operations and recovery all go according to plan.

    People have mentioned Bennell is linked to Martin. I am out of the loop - would Martin come because he is mates with Bennell? Is this the jist of it? Does Martin have no other mates playing elsewhere? Is it a special type of relationship? I am confused.

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