People approach a troubled talent like Bennell in different ways. One school of thought is that you get the best results from a team if you treat everyone equally, regardless of their talent or personal circumstances. On that basis, Bennell would be out the door already.
Others bend a little to keep talented players on the field, knowing that elite talent can be the difference between winning and losing. Although giving talented players a little leeway might help you keep those talented players on the park, it risks alienating sections of the playing group who bristle at being held to a higher standard than their teammate. Bennell seems like a Lyon favourite despite giving Freo nothing on the field. While it is something I admire about Lyon, I can see how it might rub someone like Neale up the wrong way.
It’s a difficult balancing act. It’s much more difficult when your team isn’t very good, and that talent doesn’t actually get on the field to help.
Bell would have been through something similar with Farmer. Farmer was a match-winner who would muck up from time to time. I seem to remember that causing some discord at the time. Maybe Bell has a different approach to Bond and Lyon. Or perhaps not having done the deal to bring Bennell to Freo, he’s not as invested in getting a return.
Either way, I’m bummer that at the end of this trade period we could be without Bennell. The odds are heavily against him being a contributor next year, but there was still some hope – and hope isn’t something we’ve had much of.
