WELCOME TO THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - HARLEY BENNELL

[Lord Nev 13,512]

1 minute ago, Laughing Goat said:

Good on ya for sticking up for him LN but please, it's not like he doesn't know the rules....The bloke's got history & was a bad decision to recruit him.....simple. 

oh maybe your right though & I'm sure the club would be stoked paying the $50k from next years soft cap. ?

Not defending it, he's absolutely done the wrong thing and it could potentially end his career in the circumstances, but just saying the reporting of the details has been pretty overblown as far as I've heard at this stage.

 

[Laughing Goat 308]

1 minute ago, Lord Nev said:

Not defending it, he's absolutely done the wrong thing and it could potentially end his career in the circumstances, but just saying the reporting of the details has been pretty overblown as far as I've heard at this stage.

 

No worries LN....agree. Could be more too it I guess!

[dazzledavey36 54,862]

Sam Edmund this morning on Bennell

https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=735623

[Smokey 4,389]

3 hours ago, RedFox said:

May went drinking last season when he was injured. Did people call for him to be sacked? No

I think this is far too simplistic.

Does May have a documented history of alcohol abuse that has already threatened to end his career? No. 

[daisycutter 29,613]

6 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Sam Edmund this morning on Bennell

https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=735623

the bit i don't get is edmund blames the grog but then states he tested under .05.

as anyone would know being <.05 is not very much grog at all (even if you had been off the grog for a while)

[deanox 9,912]

3 hours ago, Jaded said:

No he didn't, but I have no idea if it was because he was found out and then stopped. From what I read he's isolating in a separate hotel now. 

I doubt his plan was to leave the hub and not return, given his partner and baby are both still in there. 

Yep, agree RE the plans. But what is the $50k fine for? No damage had been done. No risk created. 

Either he stopped himself from reentering (maybe he realised, maybe someone advised him) or someone else stopped him before it was too late (meaning the system is working).

The hubs weren't actually breeched.

 

[Jaded No More 68,903]

10 minutes ago, deanox said:

Yep, agree RE the plans. But what is the $50k fine for? No damage had been done. No risk created. 

Either he stopped himself from reentering (maybe he realised, maybe someone advised him) or someone else stopped him before it was too late (meaning the system is working).

The hubs weren't actually breeched.

 

That is a good question. The fine must be because he left and went somewhere he wasn't allowed to?

 

[qwerty7 326]

7 minutes ago, deanox said:

Yep, agree RE the plans. But what is the $50k fine for? No damage had been done. No risk created. 

Either he stopped himself from reentering (maybe he realised, maybe someone advised him) or someone else stopped him before it was too late (meaning the system is working).

The hubs weren't actually breeched.

 

Good point - I didn’t think of it like that. But I guess rules are rules, and if you break them, even if no real damage was caused, you’re punished.

39 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Sam Edmund this morning on Bennell

https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=735623

Really sad listening to this. Sounds like Harley is not in a good place at all and I am glad the Melbourne FC is trying to reach out despite all that’s happened. Very, very sad.

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,702]

Was always going to end in tears.

[BDA 22,743]

Hard to know what to make of this story. Only Harley can answer why he chose to leave the HUB in clear breach of the rules.

I was in favor of giving him another year but if he is going to miss 4 games of a potentially 17 game season then that changes the equation somewhat. Plus its obvious his decision making and judgment are highly suspect (Seriously, how do you run out of petrol and get picked up by the police). He’s an accident waiting to happen.

Its unfortunate for Harley but this club has enough problems. Delist and move on.

Edited September 21, 2020 by Better days ahead

[binman 42,899]

1 hour ago, daisycutter said:

the bit i don't get is edmund blames the grog but then states he tested under .05.

as anyone would know being <.05 is not very much grog at all (even if you had been off the grog for a while)

That's exactly what i thought. Edmund seems to be implying he really got on the turps. Which i guess he could have the previous day and into, but he wasn't drunk obviously when he decided to leave the hub.

Maybe something happened the previous day or night and he felt he needed to run away? Sounds as if he is in a bad head space. I'm sure the club will get around him, as they should.

 

[daisycutter 29,613]

49 minutes ago, binman said:

That's exactly what i thought. Edmund seems to be implying he really got on the turps. Which i guess he could have the previous day and into, but he wasn't drunk obviously when he decided to leave the hub.

Maybe something happened the previous day or night and he felt he needed to run away? Sounds as if he is in a bad head space. I'm sure the club will get around him, as they should.

 

or maybe edmund is peddling a mixture of rumour and fact or trying too hard to join the dots?

Edited September 21, 2020 by daisycutter

[Clintosaurus 7,843]

Still think the contract for next season is the best option. It has been blown out of proportion due to the political nature of anything COVID related.

[Jaded No More 68,903]

Either way, he made a very poor decision, and it cost the club $50,000 which it can hardly effort, and Bennell 4 weeks off his next season (if he has one), which he can also hardly afford.

If he really needed to swap cars, and I do have to ask, the players are in a hub, why do you have a personal use car to begin with and where did it come from? If that is the case, I am sure that if he told the club, they would have sorted something out with the AFL, especially if it was due to baby seats etc. 

That he was out and about in clear Covid breach, while his team was playing for their spot in the top 8, is concerning. It is far from a hangable offence, but it doesn't sound or look good. His head isn't all in it, and that is the real problem. He should have been watching the game with the other players, not doing whatever he was doing up on the Gold Coast. 

[deanox 9,912]

1 hour ago, Jaded said:

That is a good question. The fine must be because he left and went somewhere he wasn't allowed to?

 

So the club gets a harsher penalty than Collingwood?

1 hour ago, qwerty7 said:

Good point - I didn’t think of it like that. But I guess rules are rules, and if you break them, even if no real damage was caused, you’re punished.

...

qwerty7, it's exactly the opposite of how the AFL apply punishments at the tribunal: outcome is more important than action. 

 

 

It sounds like he hasn't messed up because he was negligent (Buckley) or because he was partying (Richmond), it sounds like the problem is his headspace. It also sounds like no real harm was caused. The punishment stinks based on the info we have. 

[old dee 23,787]

5 minutes ago, Jaded said:

Either way, he made a very poor decision, and it cost the club $50,000 which it can hardly effort, and Bennell 4 weeks off his next season (if he has one), which he can also hardly afford.

If he really needed to swap cars, and I do have to ask, the players are in a hub, why do you have a personal use car to begin with and where did it come from? If that is the case, I am sure that if he told the club, they would have sorted something out with the AFL, especially if it was due to baby seats etc. 

That he was out and about in clear Covid breach, while his team was playing for their spot in the top 8, is concerning. It is far from a hangable offence, but it doesn't sound or look good. His head isn't all in it, and that is the real problem. He should have been watching the game with the other players, not doing whatever he was doing up on the Gold Coast. 

Being able to football doesn't make you a rocket scientist. In fact some I would think it is there only talent by a long way.

[dees189227 12,388]

Stuart dew was caught urinating outside a QLD pub. Disgusting and would expect better from a senior coach. Wonder if he will get a talking to. 

[Wobbly Bob 79]

Storm in a teacup.  Give him a five year contract.

[poita 3,902]

I was all for the club recruiting Harley at the start of this year, and I think that both the club and Harley have done everything that could have been asked of them until this point.

That said, this is a simply unforgivable error of judgment from a player who has been given multiple chances by multiple clubs over the past decade. We are no at a point where his performances and potential outweigh the risk of keeping him on the list beyond the season. If he can't be trusted to make good decisions now with his AFL future at stake and in a highly controlled environment, how can we possibly trust him over the pre season with a brand new contract and left to his own devices?

This club doesn't have a spare $50,000 to waste fixing this guy's mistakes and the last thing we need as we try to resign sponsors and 40K members is this type of bad publicity.

Thanks for your efforts Harley, but you're done here.

[Jaded No More 68,903]

21 minutes ago, deanox said:

So the club gets a harsher penalty than Collingwood?

 

I think that's purely because it is our second breach. 

[PaulRB 6,362]

I assume that the 50k penalty would be coming from Harley's pocket and not the clubs..? 

If his body is on track, and the coaches and fitness people reckon he can take the next step season, nothing has changed and lets sign him on for another year. 

[spirit of norm smith 16,441]

6 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Club will keep him. If we dump him, some other club will pick him up as a low risk/high reward "free swing". We'll get to watch him tear it up after we put in the effort of working out his injury problem and solving it.

That will be the thinking anyway.

 

no way others will give him a chance now 

 

we are his only hope 

 

it’s going to be a very tough decision for Goody 

[dees189227 12,388]

It's a shame his name isn't Eddie McGuire, apparently you can jump on the afl hub private flight, then go out to a nightclub and claim you are there to see how restaurants are running so he can take ideas back to victoria. 

I know he is doing hot seat up there but what is his role, president, victorian events board member or game show host? 

I'm guesisng because he has been out and about he won't be able to catch up with the collingwood team. 

[Ouch! 2,262]

37 minutes ago, PaulRB said:

I assume that the 50k penalty would be coming from Harley's pocket and not the clubs..? 

If his body is on track, and the coaches and fitness people reckon he can take the next step season, nothing has changed and lets sign him on for another year. 

Pretty certain clubs can't assign the penalty onto the players involved, the Richmond players won't pay that fine, the AFLPA has it written into the terms of their agreement.

I suspect the reason the penalty is so severe is that we are also at the pointy end of the season, and the AFL has had enough of any form of excuse from player or club. They came out last week with warnings to all clubs and players around end of season issues... 

My take: Disappointed with the actions of Harley, but if he's body is good for next year then we offer a contract, I reckon any player currently would be seriously challenged in a hub at this end of the season we've had... especially if they aren't getting games (I mean look at all you Victorian posters!!  ?)  He made a mistake and owned up to it, but prior to this indiscretion seems to have lived up to his end of the deal to date, and I hope he gets a chance to build a solid preseason and play in 2021 in a normal season (whatever normal means!) and maybe he won't get a contract, but there is more value with Bennell on our list than 8-10 other players I can think of...

[Demonland 72,159]