Noongar midfielder Harley Bennell aims for last AFL hurrah

Andrew Mathieson Published February 5, 2023 at 8.09am (AWST)

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Harley Bennell during his time at Melbourne, 2020. Photo by Scott Barbour (AAP).

Harley Bennell has failed to clutch his opportunities that three clubs located in different states during a turbulent decade spent in the AFL.

But in the midst of sweating out a humid Top End wet season, the Tiwi Bombers hired gun is preparing to make another AFL comeback three years since his final senior match.

Bennell wants to "give it one more crack" at reigniting the interrupted AFL career.

The 30-year-old starred for the Northern Territory in its annual fixture against WAFL club South Fremantle last Saturday that featured a number of former AFL players.

That was enough for Bennell to bid for one of the few spots left remaining on an AFL list, potentially at a Victorian club.

But a fourth opportunity may not occur until the mid-season draft unlike 2020 when Melbourne signed the Noongar man as a supplemental selection period wildcard.

Bennell is expected to continue to play for the Tiwi Islanders in the NTFL for the rest of the 2022-2023 season rather than relocate for an AFL preseason, believing the stint to invest time back in Aboriginal culture has been "a life changing experience".

"I'm heading off to Melbourne after this season to give it one more crack," he recently told The West Australian.

"I'm in talks with a VFL team at the moment. I won't say who, but I'm going to give it one more crack," he said.

"I think coming up here (Tiwi Islands) was the best thing for me.

"I've only been up here for five months but it's been a life-changing experience."

Bennell proved to be a driving force behind Tiwi ending a 40-game losing streak, after racking up 28 possessions that included 14 groundball gets and six centre clearances.

The 2011 No.2 selection played 81 games for Gold Coast until a series of issues off the field that ended in 2015 with illicit drug use and a drunken altercation had forced the Suns to trade to Fremantle.

Bennell's return home to Western Australia never really eventuated, playing only the two times for the Dockers, but that was put down to a litany of soft tissue injuries.

He called retirement on his career in 2020 at Melbourne after just five appearances in a season that included becoming a target of racial vilification on Twitter but also after copping a $50,000 fine for breaching the AFL Covid-19 protocol from the team's hub.