A growing family and a desire to get his body right after suffering a serious on-field injury last year will see Joel Bennett step down as Corio coach at the end of the season.
The 29-year-old has confirmed to K rock Football that he will hand over the reins after five years in charge, of which four he shared with his father, Darren, when the Devils’ campaign comes to a close next month.
Bennett’s fiancée, Tiffany, is pregnant with the couple’s third child. At the same time, the 2023 Whitley medallist has now been referred to the Royal Melbourne Hospital as he struggles to shake off the impact of suffering three spinal fractures during a game 14 months ago.
“Baby number three is due late October, start of November,” Bennett said.
“Tiff’s been an amazing support to me over the last few years, even through the (Geelong) Falcons and VFL stages, travelling all around.
“So, it’s just time to give back a little bit more to the family.
“And I want to get my body right; get back into the gym a hell of a lot more, and just not have the stresses of coaching.”
Good enough to play 21 games and kick 30 goals at VFL level with Werribee, Bennett selflessly turned his back on his AFL dream after football’s Covid-19 pause in 2020 to help lift his junior club out of the GDFNL doldrums.
Corio had gone winless through the 2018 and 2019 seasons, but with the Bennetts in charge, broke a 1414 day drought in their first season in charge.
In 2023, the Devils registered five wins in what was the club’s best return in 12 years.
While the hoped-for progression towards knocking on the door of the top five, the Bennett family, which includes Joel’s mum, Lynda, on the executive, and brother Toby as senior captain, has driven the return of stability to Shell Reserve.
“Although we haven’t won as many games as everyone would like, I feel like we’ve done a hell of a lot for the club,” Bennett said.
“The year before we came back to the club, there were no supporters… there was just nothing there.
“But now you see on a Saturday, the crowd’s packed and all the boys have a place to go.
“And we’ve got a pretty close group.
“I’m extremely proud of what we’ve been able to achieve, even though we haven’t played finals.”
Bennett will meet with a surgeon in the coming weeks to determine whether he needs to go under the knife again.
However, he is keen to play on with Corio in 2026, while also fitting in some games over the final six rounds of this season, starting with Winchelsea this weekend.
“It’s back in a bit of a holding pattern on what we’ve achieved,” Bennett said.
“I can get through a game or two, but then I’m breaking down after that again.
“But then my body picks back up.
“I think I need a really solid pre-season where I’m in the gym a few nights a week, doing plenty of running and just building my body back up.”
X: @krockfootball
