PREMIERSHIP player Campbell Brown has mounted a passionate defence for former teammate Harley Bennell, saying the gifted Fremantle midfielder is a certainty to return to AFL level and will ultimately “stick it up” his critics.

Brown, who spent three seasons playing alongside Bennell at Gold Coast, has maintained a close friendship with the 24-year-old.

He praised Dockers coach Ross Lyon for supporting the injury-prone midfielder over the past 18 months and backed Bennell to make a successful comeback later this year.

Still yet to play a game for Fremantle, Bennell is targeting a return through the WAFL after Fremantle’s mid-season bye next month.

The 2010 No.2 draft pick has been cruelled by persistent calf injuries since arriving at the Dockers in a trade from the Suns.

His playing absence has been compounded by a series of off-field misdemeanours that prompted the club to last week fine Bennell $10,000 – $5000 of it suspended – and order him to visit an external counsellor.

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Brown, whose own 203-game career ended with his sacking by Gold Coast, said Bennell was far from finished as an AFL player.

“He’s a certainty to get back,” Brown said.

“He’s really frustrated. Obviously when you go to a new club, you want to make an immediate impact to vindicate the decision, to get the respect of your teammates and to half show the Gold Coast and the footy world that he can play.

“He’s as good a footballer as is going around. The talent we know is there.

“It’s great to see Ross Lyon and the footy club stick with him. As a player that’s been in a bit of trouble myself, every now and then you desperately want the club to show faith in you and support you through it.

“If you look at what Harley has actually done, it’s nothing major ... what he’s actually done to find headlines in the last couple of months are non-issues as far as I’m concerned.

“Certainly he needs to be a bit smarter when he goes out in public, but he’s a great kid and he’s super talented.“Once he does get his body right and gets back into the routine of playing footy, he’s going to really prove some people wrong.

“He’s got that resolve to stick it up a few people who have been getting into him.”

Bennell was traded by Gold Coast after a series of off-field indiscretions, which culminated in the mercurial footballer’s arrest outside a nightclub in Surfer’s Paradise.

“I thought it was the wrong decision,” Brown said.

“They made a decision that anyone that didn’t fit the mould of their footy club, they let go. They did the same to Charlie Dixon, which I thought was the wrong call as well.

“Everyone wants footballers to be perfect and to be robots in today’s society and they’re not all like that.

“All the blokes with a bit of character, a bit of go in them, the Gold Coast decided to let go.

“That was their prerogative, but I don’t think it was great for their list management.”