The gun Fremantle recruit is looking forward to putting his troubled past behind him and relying on his close-knit family to help him refocus on football in 2016.

In his first interview since joining the Dockers during the 2015 trade period after a controversial exit from Gold Coast, the 23-year-old said he was happy to be home and couldn't wait to start training with his new teammates.

"It's good to be back here with the family and I'm really excited to play for Fremantle," he said.

"I'm really looking forward to meeting the playing group and getting ready for a big pre-season."

Fremantle exchanged picks 16 and 35 in return for Bennell and pick 22 from the Gold Coast, where he played 81 games, kicked 92 goals and displayed some electrifying pace and skill.

Several run-ins with the club and the law after forced the club to trade him in October but the number two draft pick in 2010 wants to move on and repay the faith of the club and its fans.

"I want my football to do the talking," said Bennell, who inked a three-year deal with Fremantle.

"It goes with anyone heading into a fresh start at a new football club.

"I just really want to earn their respect by the way I train and go about my stuff.

"I'm really looking forward to 2016... hopefully we can play finals."

Bennell, who addressed Fremantle's annual general meeting last night (where former captain Peter Bell's board position was formally ratified), will form a dangerous one-two combo with Brownlow Medalist Nat Fyfe in the Dockers' engine room.

But the budding superstar, one of nine children, said family and not premiership success was the biggest drawcard in his return home.

"It means everything," he said.

"It's good to have that family support. On days off I can go down there (Mandurah) and go out for lunch with my family."

Bennell said his mother Kayleen was an inspiration and hoped she could watch him play more often in 2016 now he was playing in Perth.

"Mum is a single mother of nine," he said.

"She's like the queen and is a very strong woman.

"She's been to about seven home games at the Gold Coast but hopefully next season she can come to all the home games."

Bennell played in the WAFL before Gold Coast drafted him but said kicking the footy with his brothers in the backyard helped him hone his laser-like skills.

"Growing up, there was always footy," Bennell said.

"My brothers and I always played football, two-on-two out the back."

The Peel Thunder product has started training with the club's younger players and met the club's leadership group and some of its Indigenous players recently.

"I met with the leadership group and (we) went over a few things," he said.