AFL great Robert Walls believes Harley Bennell won’t ever make an impact for Fremantle, as the troubled star makes his return from a club-imposed eight-week suspension.

Bennell’s ban ends on Tuesday following a two-month long ban, which stemmed from him being thrown out of a nightclub by bouncers the night before pre-season training resumed after the Christmas break.

The 25-year-old will return to Dockers HQ on Tuesday and undergo physical examinations to determine if he has met the level the club has asked of him.

But Walls told Fox Sports News’ AFL Tonight he believes Bennell just won’t be able to help the Dockers, who was traded from Gold Coast at the end of 2015.

Round 18

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“He’s hardly played AFL football for the last two years. He’s got off-field issues that have been there for quite a while. He’s got soft tissue issues that have been there for a long while,” Walls said.

“To play AFL at this level and play consistently well, you’ve got to be wholly committed to it, and I just don’t see him doing that.

“And that’s a shame because obviously he’s a talent. The Dockers gifted him a couple of games last season and I think that was good, to give him a taste of it, but again things didn’t work out well for him in the off-season.

“So I don’t think he’ll make it.”

Fremantle football operations manager Chris Bond told The Sunday Times that Bennell, who is currently recovering from a minor calf injury suffered while training with WAFL side Peel Thunder, is likely to be taken back by the club.

“We’ll just get all of the information over the next couple of days. Once we’ve got all that information, we’ll be able to have a look at what work’s been done and how he’s been going. And then, based on what we said eight weeks ago, we’ll look at the situation,” Bond said.

“But he’s due back Tuesday.

“It’s obviously likely, considering the amount of work that he’s done, that everything is going to fall his way. But before we make those calls, I think it’s important from a club point of view just to get all the information in front of us.”

Bennell is then expected to make his on-field return for Peel in WAFL pre-season matches later this month.