Australian rules football career

Bennett grew up in Perth, Western Australia where he began playing Australian rules football, first playing senior football with East Fremantle in the West Australian Football League. His career with the Sharks was severely affected by injuries to his knee, which kept him out for over a season during 1985 and 1986 - in the interim denying him a WAFL premiership. However, training with former star Harry Neesham allowed Bennett to be fit for the 1986 finals, and in the second semi he became the first player ever to score ten goals in a WA(N)FL final.

Darren Bennett
Personal information
Full name	Darren Bennett
Date of birth	(1965-01-09) 9 January 1965 (age 51)
Place of birth	Sydney
Original team(s)	East Fremantle
Height/Weight	196 cm / 106 kg
Position(s)	Forward
Playing career
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1987 1989-1993 Total -	West Coast Melbourne	04 00(7) 74 (208) 78 (215)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1993 season.
Career highlights
2× Melbourne leading goalkicker: 1989, 1990

As a consequence of his devastating late-1986 form, which included eleven goals in the last round against Claremont as well as his second semi effort, Bennett was recruited to be a member of the West Coast Eagles' inaugural squad in 1987. A serious knee injury curtailed his career with the Eagles after four games. Released by the Eagles, at the end of the 1988 season, he was drafted by the Melbourne Demons with the 13th selection in the 1988 VFL Draft. In both 1989 (34 goals) and 1990 (87 goals) Bennett led the Demons' goal kicking.

Bennett was known for kicking long goals, torpedo punts and taking strong marks.

Bennett was regarded as one of Melbourne's finest players in the early 90's. But injuries caught up with him, and he played just two games in 1993. After the season, Bennett quietly retired from the Australian Football League, having totalled 78 games and 215 goals.

Bennett participated in an exhibition match at SkyDome in Toronto in 1989; it is believed that he was first exposed to American football during that trip.

Statistics

Legend
G	Goals	B	Behinds	K	Kicks	H	Handballs	D	Disposals	M	Marks	T	Tackles

Season	Team	#	Games	G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
		Totals								Averages (per game)
1987	West Coast	19	4	7	5	24	0	24	17	1	1.8	1.3	6.0	0.0	6.0	4.3	0.3
1988	West Coast	19	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1989	Melbourne	19	13	34	30	90	27	117	69	6	2.6	2.3	6.9	2.1	9.0	5.3	0.5
1990	Melbourne	19	23	87	54	201	31	232	135	8	3.8	2.3	8.7	1.3	10.1	5.9	0.3
1991	Melbourne	19	22	55	37	177	46	223	132	2	2.5	1.7	8.0	2.1	10.1	6.0	0.1
1992	Melbourne	19	14	28	23	76	13	89	54	7	2.0	1.6	5.4	0.9	6.4	3.9	0.5
1993	Melbourne	19	2	4	3	12	2	14	8	0	2.0	1.5	6.0	1.0	7.0	4.0	0.0
Career			78	215	152	580	119	699	415	24	2.8	1.9	7.4	1.5	9.0	5.3	0.3

NFL career

Darren Bennett

No. 2
Position:	Punter
Personal information
Date of birth:	(1965-01-09) 9 January 1965 (age 51)
Place of birth:	Sydney, Australia
Career information
Undrafted:	1994
Career history
San Diego Chargers (1994-2003) Amsterdam Admirals (1995) Minnesota Vikings (2004-2005)
Career highlights and awards
2× Pro Bowl (1995, 2000) 2× All-Pro (1995, 2000) NFL 1990s All-Decade Team San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame San Diego Chargers 50th Anniversary Team San Diego Chargers 40th Anniversary Team
Career NFL statistics
Punts: 836 Punting Yards: 36,316 Punting Avg: 43.4 Player stats at NFL.com

He married in 1993 and went on his honeymoon to California, where he contacted the coaching staff of the San Diego Chargers and asked for a tryout. He wound up impressing the Chargers sufficiently that he was placed on the team's practice squad for that season, although he did not play.

During the spring of 1995, the Chargers sent him to the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe, where he led the league in net punting average and earned all-league honours. That fall, he became the Chargers' regular punter. In his rookie season, he finished second in the NFL in punting average and made the AFC Pro Bowl team. He went on to establish himself as arguably the best punter in the NFL for the rest of the 1990s. Despite playing in the league for only half of that decade, he was named as the punter on the NFL's All-Decade Team for the 1990s.

On 7 August 1999 Bennett returned home with his adoptive sport and took part in Australia's first American Bowl in Sydney's brand new Stadium Australia versus the Denver Broncos.

Bennett was named to another Pro Bowl team in 2000, and continued to be one of the league's leading punters well into the 21st century. Going into the 2004 season, he had averaged 43.8 yards per punt, averaged 27 punts per season inside the 20-yard-line, and had only three blocked punts in his career (one of which happened when the Chargers had only 10 men on the field). As a former Aussie rules player, and considerably larger than most specialist kickers in American football (6'5"/1.96 m, 235 lb/106.5 kg), he did not shy away from physical contact on special teams. This willingness to hit, rare among kickers, was never more evident than when he knocked an opposing punt returner out cold in his rookie season. In 2004, after 144 games for the Chargers, he signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Vikings, where he spent one season until being injured in pre-season and then cut in September 2005. However, he was recalled by the team in December 2005, after starting punter Chris Kluwe (who had replaced him on the Vikings squad) was injured; Bennett was signed to a temporary contract. He played one game before being released by the Vikings, having made what was likely his final NFL appearance after 15 Vikings games and a total of 159 NFL games.

Bennett is also credited for the introduction into the NFL of the "Aussie Rules kick" or "Drop punt" as it is known in Australia. The technique was instrumental in the advancement of Australians into the NFL, and currently half of the punters in the NFL make use of the Aussie Rules punt in pooch-punt situations.

Bennett was named to the San Diego Chargers 50th Anniversary Team in 2009. He was inducted into the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame in 2012, the first time the Chargers allowed fans to decide the newest member.

Personal

Bennett and his wife Rosemary reside in San Diego and became US citizens in 2010. They have two sons, one of whom suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy; Bennett is deeply involved with charities associated with that disease.

Bennett coaches high school kickers and punters in San Diego and mentors High School, NCAA and NFL players.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]