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WELCOME TO THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - HARLEY BENNELL

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in Melbourne Demons

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4 hours ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

Personally I don't think the MFC owes Harley anything.  We picked him up as a rookie, didn't have to give up any draft picks or players to get the opportunity to have him on our list and he wasn't on big money by any means.  He uprooted himself and his family to Melbourne and the hubs to give himself and us a chance  at football sucess.  From all that is reported he applied himself with the right kind of disipline  and attitude. 

Just re-reading what I wrote above, my stated logic is the wrong way around.  Should read "I don't think Harley owes the MFC anything".

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    13 hours ago, Older demon said:

    Harley is in a serious situation and clearly is in need of help.

    I know he breached the hub COVID, but his case is one of mental health. I think it is time MFC appealed the fine and Demonlanders starts emailing the AFL to rescind the fine. This is not like the other COVID breaches. He absconded and is clearly under duress, unlike the other breaches for playing tennis, going to a night club and visiting a facial salon and so on. From his mums emotional plea the fine and suspension are exacerbating his current mental state as well as all the hate coming his way. MFC are doing everything to get him home but as reported his erratic behaviour is making this difficult. In light of this scenario I think it is ridiculous to hold the club responsible for a player with mental health issues who has fled the hub never to return. 

     

     

    While I agree 100% with your logic, I think the optics of this approach could reflect badly on the club. It may make us look more concerned about the fine than Bennell. I think we have to cop it on the chin and move on.

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    1 hour ago, Demonland said:

     

    Glad he’s out of QLD and with people that care about him but, and maybe I’m being unfair to Perth, I thought there were issues and influences in Perth that made him want to move to Melbourne for a new start. 

    I still just wish he’d been given a crack at life with us in Melbourne in regular times. 

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    2 hours ago, Pates said:

    Glad he’s out of QLD and with people that care about him but, and maybe I’m being unfair to Perth, I thought there were issues and influences in Perth that made him want to move to Melbourne for a new start. 

    I still just wish he’d been given a crack at life with us in Melbourne in regular times. 

    When you don’t return phone calls there is nothing more that can be done. 
    Harley made the decision 

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    On 9/29/2020 at 7:25 PM, Bitter but optimistic said:

    Sadly, this could go Ben Cousins mark 2 

    One can only very seriously hope that he doesn’t sink to those depths of despair.  

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    6 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

    When you don’t return phone calls there is nothing more that can be done. 
    Harley made the decision 

    Agree. We gave him a chance and I hoped it would work out but he decided elsewise. Club in my view did all it could. Pity but we must move on.

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    19 minutes ago, Docs Demons said:

    Agree. We gave him a chance and I hoped it would work out but he decided elsewise. Club in my view did all it could. Pity but we must move on.

    Don’t get me wrong. It’s very sad

    but Harley checked out. I am sure the club is devastated, they put in a lot of work. But addiction is never beaten, only ever controlled until it wins again. 

    Edited by Sir Why You Little

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    3 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

    When you don’t return phone calls there is nothing more that can be done. 
    Harley made the decision 

    Oh 100% not saying the club has done the wrong thing here, in fact I’d say we are (as far as I can see) faultless in the way we’ve conducted ourselves. 

    More saying I wish he’d been able to have this year in a proper non-pandemic time. But as you say he wasn’t returning phone calls, you can only imagine that would include Goodwin who he once said he was like a father figure to him. 

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    still think he may have had more issues than we know about,stange how he wasnt given more games when we were crying out for more skill up forward.Perhaps his attitude changed

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    On 10/2/2020 at 4:40 AM, forever demons said:

    still think he may have had more issues than we know about,stange how he wasnt given more games when we were crying out for more skill up forward.Perhaps his attitude changed

    Or perhaps more likely he was not confident in his calf recover so not ready to his the accelerator. 
    Happy to have given him the opportunity.

    As others have said, one can only speculate what could have happened in a normal season. 

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    If people can remember the promise he gave the FD in the ‘To Hell and Back’ episode with regards to drink well, let’s just say that was too hard for him to withstand. 
    It’s pretty well known over here and whether it was a normal season or a COVID affected season the outcome probably would have been the same. 

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    31 minutes ago, McQueen said:

    If people can remember the promise he gave the FD in the ‘To Hell and Back’ episode with regards to drink well, let’s just say that was too hard for him to withstand. 
    It’s pretty well known over here and whether it was a normal season or a COVID affected season the outcome probably would have been the same. 

    Mr Mq: his misdemeanour occurred after his team's season had finished. Get off your sanctimonious high horse.

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    31 minutes ago, dieter said:

    Mr Mq: his misdemeanour occurred after his team's season had finished. Get off your sanctimonious high horse.

    Do yourself a favour and look up the meaning of irony. 
    Better still, try to understand my post. 

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    Needed to have been able to build his match  fitness etc via the vfl unfortunately with covid & the long time away from playing impacted his recovery. 

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    1 hour ago, McQueen said:

    If people can remember the promise he gave the FD in the ‘To Hell and Back’ episode with regards to drink well, let’s just say that was too hard for him to withstand. 
    It’s pretty well known over here and whether it was a normal season or a COVID affected season the outcome probably would have been the same. 

    His wife left him and took the kids. You want to attack him.

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    39 minutes ago, Redleg said:

    His wife left him and took the kids. You want to attack him.

    If that’s the way you want to read it then knock yourself out. 
     

    I posted earlier that the hub life was no good for him. 
     

    Ah fuggit, whatever. 

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    41 minutes ago, Redleg said:

    His wife left him and took the kids. You want to attack him.

    I hadnt heard this. During the hub?

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    4 minutes ago, deanox said:

    I hadnt heard this. During the hub?

    Yep. Just before he lost it.

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    10 minutes ago, Redleg said:

    Yep. Just before he lost it.

    Ah [censored] that's horrible. In that case, I hope that his mess up didnt affect our decision. He has held it together all year in a tough year, and shown he could hold it together. That's next level and if we were going to offer him a role is probably irrelevant.

    Edited by deanox

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    14 minutes ago, deanox said:

    Ah [censored] that's horrible. In that case, I hope that his mess up didnt affect our decision. He has held it together all year in a tough year, and shown he could hold it together. That's next level and if we were going to offer him a role is probably irrelevant.

    Apparently a one year contract was to be offered to him but his life blew up. Very sad. 

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    2 minutes ago, Redleg said:

    Apparently a one year contract was to be offered to him but his life blew up. Very sad. 

    Agree. It’s a sad story. He needs help and support. 

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