Former AFL footballer Harley Bennell has had a charge of car theft dropped in the Geelong Magistrates Court.
Police prosecutors told the court the charge, which appears to have been laid by the Torquay CIU, would be withdrawn but did not provide a reason, according to a rpeort in the Geelong Advertiser.
The 31-year-old did not appear.
The Advertiser said details of the allegations against the former Gold Coast, Fremantle and Melbourne midfielder, and the reason the charge was dropped, were not known.
Bennell played his first AFL match for the Gold Coast Suns in 2011, but his time at the club was marred by frequent disciplinary breaches.
He was traded to Fremantle at the end of the 2015 season after newspapers published photographs of him appearing to be preparing to inhale a white powder.
In 2020, after being signed to Melbourne, Bennell was suspended and sent home from the AFL’s Gold Coast COVID-19 hub after breaching the league’s COVID protocols.
In 2023 he agreed to join VFL club Port Melbourne in a bid to relaunch his AFL career, but has since moved to the Wodonga Raiders in the Ovens and Murray League.
