Dockers deflect Bennell booze talk

FREMANTLE coach Ross Lyon has refused to detail whether alcohol was a factor in Harley Bennell’s latest off-field drama, and says he hasn’t banned the troubled midfielder from drinking.

Bennell was fined $10,000 and ordered to undergo counselling following his bizarre behaviour while watching a WAFL game last Saturday.

The 24-year-old twice interrupted the three-quarter time huddle of the match between Peel Thunder and Swan Districts to speak to his cousin Traye Bennell. Half of the $10,000 fine has been suspended for 12 months. Last month, Bennell was kicked off a Gold Coast-bound flight before it departed because he was intoxicated.

Bennell’s seven-year AFL career has been blighted by a series of off-field misdemeanours. The most serious of the lot came in 2015 when he was linked to drug use after photos emerged of him with lines of white powder.

The photos were taken in 2013. Lyon was asked several times yesterday whether alcohol was a factor in Bennell’s behaviour at the WAFL game, but he deflected the question.