Mandurah footballer finds his feet through indigenous youth program

Footy Means Business is an initiative aimed at reviving both the on-field and off-field aspirations of 18 to 23-year-old aboriginal men.

Bennell, a Mandurah footballer and brother of Fremantle Dockers recruit Harley, said he has returned home from the program more motivated and with a better understanding of what it takes to play high-level football both on and off the field.

Before taking up the program, Bennell was battling a number of on and off-field issues that were keeping him from achieving his goal to play professional football.

A quad injury derailed his pre-season with Peel Thunder but the promising youngster was hit hardest by the death of his uncle.

“My uncle was someone I was really close to, so when he passed away it was a really tough time for me,” he said.

“I wasn’t in the best of places.”

But Bennell jumped at the chance to join the Footy Means Business program, which he said helped reinvent the way he approached life.

“I wanted to make my mum and my uncle proud, and this seemed like the best way to do that,” he said.

“It really taught me things about being a leader and a role model. It showed me all the things you need to do off the field before you success on it.

“We also learnt some good things about footy but it was more about becoming a leader outside of footy.”

Mandurah man and coach of the program Barry Lawrence said Bennell had gone from strength to strength during the Melbourne camp.

“Merv was someone we identified as having plenty of talent and we wanted to help him get his focus back on track,” he said.

“His progression through the trip was really impressive. We aim to show the boys ways to succeed outside of footy and Merv really embraced that.”

During the trip, players sat through a number of motivational workshops and played a curtain raiser to the Dreamtime at the G match between Essendon and Richmond.

Lawrence and Bennell’s side won the curtain raiser by a point.

Bennell is now turning his focus to playing for South Mandurah in the Peel Football League, who he signed with at the start of the 2016 season.