This time tomorrow the West Coast Eagles will be in the thick of things in Bunbury heading down for the 2015 Australia Post AFL Community Camp, and one player who will certainly feel an extra-special affinity with the regional area is Bunbury local Jamie Bennell.
A Bunbury Senior High School product, Bennell spent four years in Melbourne on the Demons’ list, but returned to West Coast at the end of 2012.
After working his way back to full form and fitness following a knee reconstruction, Bennell blossomed in 2014 under the guidance of new coach Adam Simpson.
Bennell says heading back to Bunbury for the two-day camp will be a great way to take a trip down memory lane.
“I’m looking forward to getting down there, hopefully to see a few familiar faces around,” he said.
“We’ve got a panel night on Tuesday night; we’re looking to get a few supporters there.
“We’ve got myself and a few team mates up for a question and answer so there’s be a few questions put out there.
“There’ll be refreshments, auction items and door prizes so it’ll be a good gig to get down to and if you can get in there it’ll be a good night.
“Nic Nat will be up on the panel, Coxy, Josh Kennedy, a few big name players will be up for it, and all the players will be in for a signing session so you get the chance to meet them all.”
Bennell’s turnaround has been incredible since heading back across the Nullarbor, with a new start injecting a new boost of confidence into the attacking defender.
“It’s been a great transition for me, just having family and friends around and to have that support around you,” he said.
“The club’s been fantastic as well with that, it’s been a really positive move for me and hopefully I can finish my career off here with a few good years ahead.”
After a breakthrough year in 2014, Bennell says the he and the team are full of confidence heading into the new season after hitting the ground running in November last year.
“It’s been good this year, last year we had all the new coaches come in with Simmo so it was all about learning the new game plan.
“But this year it’s all about just training, we know what we’re doing; it’s just straight out into the drills and getting stuck into it really.”
As the club prepares for a practice match against the AFL Indigenous All-Stars on February 20 before embarking on their NAB Challenge campaign against Carlton a week later, Bennell says the aim in 2015 is pretty simple.
“It’s just to improve on last year, so we finished ninth, so the plan this year is to play finals I would think,” he said.
“That’s our main target, to win some of those close games we lost last year, we’d like to turn that around and hold onto them and put the win on the board.”
