Through all the crap that has rained over the Thunder it has managed to produce some fine AFL players, and this year has produced again.
It looks to be that young Harley will be away and playing for an AFL team soon.
I was gutted as a supporter to see Johnny back wondering the shops and playing for Thunder this year but at the same time thrilled to hear so much talk and admiration for Harley.
6 years ago when I first joined FOTTYGOSS Harley was still in Greenfields primary school and Johnny had just left for high school. I had never at that stage expected he would become one of the country’s hottest pick ups.
With the 2 older boys all ready showing what talent the family can produce fans can only sit back and wait for the next 2 dynamic players to come through. The next youngster will be young Mervin,15, who is playing for MCJFC and then young Matty, age 11. Matty is the youngster who pulled off 3 back-flips for the TV when Harley was interviewed 2 weeks ago. Now if any gymnastic coach out there saw this and would like a great gymnast he would be Australia’s best chance for an Olympic gold.
A SKILLFULL and TALENTED Family as we have already seen.
Hopefully,when WE as the WAFL Succeeds to STOP the AFL RAPING our Comp before Drating age,you’ll get to see the other 2 boys and many other kids of Great Talent show us what they’ve got in LEAGUE Footy.
Best of luck to Harley but I dont think luck will come into it.
He is a brilliant footballer and one of the best to come out of WA this year.
People forget very quickly the AFL champions who have come out of Peel.
Fremantle certainly would of appreciated hayden ballantynes last goal on Saturday but half of the supporters would not even know where he came from.
Lets not forget Buszan,Tregenza,Bolton,Wells,Pickett,Brandon Hill etc
Now not all these players hit the dizzy heights as senior players but Peel region has bought out some good players..
I saw this list on another site...Not sure of the relevance… Were they all Peel Players or from the SW?
1) Farren Ray (St Kilda) Playing a major role in the midfield in a GF headed team
2) Daniel Wells (Kangaroos) Some may say over-rated but is awesome when injury free
3) Kyle Reimers (Bombers) drafted in the early 50s going to be a great player
4) Kristan Thornton (Sydney) also drafted in the early 50s, will get more games as swans team age
5) James Hawkesly (Brisbane) played a few games last year in midfield and didnt look out of place
6) Paul Bower (Carlton) Key posy player played a couple of games on key forwards looked good
7) Scott Gumbleton (Bombers) injury has damaged his career so far, but lots of talent
8) Hayden Ballantyne (Freo) Worked extremely hard to get drafted at age 21
9) Brock O’Brien (Freo) played league footy very early, has some minor injurys atm
10) Matt Riggio (Kangarros) should be given a chance with a new coach, may be delisted at years end
History: Harley Bennell, the brother of John Bennell (Collingwood rookie 08-09) and cousin of Jaime Bennell (Melbourne) is a versatile and exciting high-possession winning midfielder in the Western Australian Football League (WAFL), who has the ability to play across half back and half forward.
As an AIS-AFL Academy graduate Bennell has superb skills on both sides of his body, great awareness of the play and a good decision making mind. He also moves very slickly and has electrifying speed which allows him to run with the footy and break games wide open.
He is currently starring in the 2010 NAB AFL U18 Championships for Western Australia and in their opening match against South Australia he kicked 6 of his teams 8 goals.
Last season he played 20 matches for Peel Thunder in the WAFL and average 19 disposals, 12 kicks, 3 marks, 3 inside 50s and 1 goal.
Statistics in the 2009 Western Australian Football League for Peel Thunder:
Matches 20
Disposals 397
Kicks 239
Marks 74
Handballs 158
Tackles 54
Goals 31
Behinds 19
Frees For 20
Frees Against 23
Hit outs 12
Inside 50s 60
Mate looking at the Lineups (I have put them on the WP thread) see Harvey is in the side for Peel… Cant wait to see him play.. Might be the last time I see the guy play before he hits the big time.
Those guys that have come thru Peel onto AFL mentioned are no diff to the guys coming out of everyother WAFL club year after year after year so thats no valid argument. SD had 10+ guys get drafted in one year EF have many Brownlow medallists come out of the club in the past 10 years e.g Cousins, Woewodin, Black.
Harley (no18) played a good game today unfortunately he didnt have much support. It was great to see him play and he certainly will do well in the AFL.
Maybe Peel members will not see him play many more senior games this season after being dropped this week.
Maybe the adulation is going to the kids head.He hasn’t made it yet.He staill has a long way to go.
Potential means nothing until it becomes performance.
But good luck to him,just hope he is not getting a swollen head and getting ahead of the game.
Thats interesting - Dropped? Must of done something wrong?
Trevor Williams is not putting up with any crap from what I have seen
If players miss training etc they are automatically dropped who ever they are.
He did seem to wander a bit in last weeks game and didnt man up to well...Possibly didnt follow coaches instructions?
He is listed in this weeks side though. So where did you get the info he was dropped?
PEEL THUNDER:
BACKS: M Holmes C Luff A Payrits
HBACKS: J Jones T Clarke L Mckenna
CENTRES: M Ware B Jones (c) H Bennell
HFORWARDS: R O’brien H Mcleod C Collard
FORWARDS: B Filo M Battye J Bennell
RUCK: J Williams K Butcher M Giumelli
INTERCHANGE: M.Brown, B.Culpitt, D.Mcphan, B.Piggot, N.Wilson
Sorry Cardy,misread the article in the West.
But,from the reading of the article,it is only the WAFC that is stopping this from happening.It appears that Trevor Williams is far from happy with the way he is playing.Peel were prepared to drop him after the debacle with WP last week.
Things like,not travelling well,can’t cope with a hard tag,he will cop plenty of those if he plays AFL.The article says Williams is frustrated Bennell was neither willing nor able to follow instructions.Maybe the kids head is swollen from all the attention,or,he is getting the wrong advice from outsiders.
If he is not prepared to follow instructions now,how will he get on under the pressure of the AFL.Going to a new club with basically no AFL experience will certainly test his want to play at AFL level.
Maybe if Bluey sees the article he may have second thoughts about wanting him.
Interesting to read that,and see how much passion that Stephen Hill had to succeed at AFL level.He worked a day time job,trained extra from WP.Couldn’t learn enough from other players.In other words he WANTED to play,and be succesful at AFL level.Is Harley Bennell as hungry for success at that level as Hill was?
Success doesn’t come with out some hurt and heartache,will he handle it?
I’ve heard one or folk in footy say,Talent scouts can Fill young kids with many ideas about why they’re better off at an AFL environment,telling them they don’t need the WAFL.
I suspect Harley has been given the Wrong advice(and most likely BAD)and consequently he is Not Focused on his Job at hand.TREVOR WILLIAMS is quite within his Rights to DROP him to Wake him Up.
I don’t see how the COMMISSION or GOLD COAST have any right to Interfere and from that,therin lies your problem.What is it with these AFL clubs that not only Expect kids Not to get Droppped,they DEMAND IT?!
There’s some of your BAD ADVICE Right there.If an AFL Listed player or future player is NOT PULLING HIS WEIGHT,his IMMEDIATE COACH has EVERY RIGHT to take whatever action he DEEMS Fit.
Whilst I believe HARLEY will make it in AFL Footy,hopefully this WAKE UP Call from TREVOR WILLIAMS will make him a better player and Person for it.
Having seen him play yesterday against East Perth he certainly didn’t look anywhere near what you would expect the number one draft pick to be.I couldn’t help but compare him to Paul Hasleby,who at the same age, in his first year of league football,was prepared to do all the hard work required.For his sake I hope he realizes sooner rather than later that there’s more to making it than just talent alone.
Interesting as he certainly worked his guts off in the u18 Championships and one of the best on ground for our boys. Think he kicked 6 goals in one game?
But then he would of known he was under the microscope there.
Maybe he just doesnt care at Peel and doesnt want to risk a injury?
If so he is not a very honorable guy in my book...and his loyalty/dedication must be questioned. Dont want guys like that as your no1 draft pick.
Just had a look at the stats he had 9 disposals yesterday
Just read this article Anchorman and it appears you were right re him being dropped for last weeks game v EP...WAFL interfering again in club decisions it appears
Looking at his performance it was justified by Trevor.
This article says it all
