how will you know if someone will be better at hepps at his role if hepp is never dropped so the opportunity to show that you’re better is never given?
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NSIS.
what’s your answer?
WTF
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You don’t drop players to try someone else unless said players are playing less than expected. Hepp is doing his job well. Don’t be ageist Alex …. Its about performance now, not rolling the dice to see if so & so is good enough
ageist is dropping a 19 year old after a good game because you want to bring back a 36 year old ruckman who got pantsed last time he played.
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and if there is someone in the twos playing the same position and demanding the spot.
Did he get pantsed or did he get lots of clearances himself? I think you are ageist
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he got spanked
Dyson Heppell on loyalty to Dons, finals dreams, and the drugs saga ahead of game 250
Is Dyson Heppell the most selfless player in Essendon’s history? He never entertained leaving despite a finals drought, a 12-month ban and questions over his future. He sits down with JAY CLARK to reflect on his career ahead of game 250.
Jay ClarkSports reporter
Dyson Heppell has always been the selfless one at Essendon. Whether it is covering off on Nic Martin or Mason Redman’s opponent as they take off upfield, or captaining the club in its darkest days, Heppell has always put others’ needs before his own over a turbulent 14-year career.
To some, it remains one of the most loyal feats in the game that the lad from Leongatha never seriously entertained offers to leave Tullamarine in the wake of the supplements saga.
Plenty tried, but could never even get a meeting with him.
Despite his year out suspended, and zero finals wins, Heppell never lost faith in his football dream or the love for his club in the hope one day the tables would turn, exactly in the manner they have this season at Essendon.
And as the Sherrin floated his way late in the win over West Coast last Sunday, a massive smile ripped across Heppell’s face when Zach Merrett lobbed an easy pass over the top which found Heppell – for one of the few times in his career – all alone in the goalsquare.
He banged through the goal from point blank range, and felt the goosebumps as Essendon fans erupted and Merrett leapt into his arms.
For all the tough times Heppell has endured, this was one of the most joyous moments of a season so far that could yet deliver the 32-year-old a genuine footy fairytale if Essendon can make it to September.
HEPPELL’S HIGHS AND LOWS
“It was a special little moment for me, no doubt,” Heppell said.
“Even before I poked it through you could really hear the eruption of the crowd. So just to share that moment with Zach, who has done such an enormous job as captain since the handover and has really taken a lot of weight off my shoulders so I can really enjoy my footy, yeah, it was really cool.”
Finally, the bloke who is always looking after everyone else or their man was able to get a nice little lick of the ice cream as Heppell prepares for his 250th AFL match against Geelong at the MCG on Saturday night.
It has to be one of the most significant player milestones at Essendon over the past 10 years against a team that has owned the Bombers over that stretch, and even longer, winning 21 of their past 25 games against the red and black.
But things are different at Tullamarine for a club which has clearly turned a corner under president David Barham and coach Brad Scott.
And there is no doubt whatsoever Scott will remind his troops pre-game about honouring Heppell on Saturday night after saying in March that Heppell had “been unbelievable for this football club, and unheralded and underrated for what he has done through difficult times”.
The receptionist at Essendon, Pauline Borg, who sits at the desk of the club’s front doors, this week described Heppell as “the best person in the world” knowing exactly the warmth and friendliness he brings into the club each day.
Unsurprisingly, Heppell has 50 tickets for his crew, a tight group of family and friends stretching back to his kindergarten days who helped the No. 8 draft pick keep his Zen and perspective when things, at least in a football sense, spiralled out of control.
But as tough as things have been at Bomberland, Heppell doesn’t harbour a single grudge.
He said the best thing he has done was let go of any angst from that time.
“Forgiveness is the quickest avenue to freedom, and I think I was really quick to forgive everything that went down,” Heppell said. “I don’t put any blame on anyone. Absolutely it frees you. It would just be an enormous weight dragging me down if I was still hanging to things of the past. I quickly let go of that. I want to enjoy footy and enjoy life.”
While the year on the sidelines was devastating for some, Heppell counts himself as fortunate in some ways, and grateful for how it shaped him, and what it taught him.
“I look back on that year with no animosity or remorse about that time and what went down,” Heppell said.
“It was certainly the most challenging period of my life, no doubt, and the strain on relationships and what footy means and what character of people means in itself, who to trust, who to believe, what to listen to, what not to.
“So many things going on at that time but in the end, I had more empathy towards the guys who were older and at the end of their careers and it ended their careers.
“I had a lot of footy in me and I was still passionate about the game, I honestly was one of the lucky ones. In the end I learned a hell of a lot and came out better for it. So I don’t look back on it with any animosity at all.”
And now Heppell is going so well as perhaps the most selfless cog in a much improved defensive unit that he is keen to go on again next year, if the club feels the same at season’s end.
For now, Heppell is focused on the baby steps that could take the club towards the pointy end. September. At times, he allows himself to dream about what may lie ahead if everyone keeps putting in the work.
“Sometimes you daydream about it and visualise it. It would be unbelievable,” he said.
“We have given ourselves an opportunity, we have an awesome platform to build on and a lot of work ahead of us, so it is really exciting.”
To keep winning, Heppell knows he will have to keep sacrificing in the back half, helping organise the defence and keeping an eye on Martin and Redman’s men for when they look to break a line.
Heppell has loved the role that has helped him have one of his best seasons in years coming into a campaign where many thought he was a 50/50 selection.
“I have found a role that suits my game and I have really enjoyed that style of footy. It is able to bring out my leadership capabilities as well,” he said.
“The talent in the team now is incredible and we have guys that have awesome skills and speed and drive off half back.
“What probably has been a strength of mine over my career is the game awareness.
“The ability to sum up situations and look around and go, do I need to take off, should I tuck in and support here, and let those guys get up the ground and attack the game? That is what I’m happy doing.
“But something I can always hang my hat on is that I know I will always give absolutely everything to prepare myself as best as I can to give myself a shot to play good footy.
“Having the backing and the belief of the senior coach has been enormous as well and I my body is in a really healthy space. I was able to put in a full pre-season.”
Pleasingly, Essendon is a different football club now. A more stable environment for a man who has had six different senior coaches in his 14 years.
Every one of them had a different vision, different style, taking the club in a different direction.
But the Bombers now, he said, feel rock solid, and perhaps it is no surprise the players’ development has flourished.
Sam Durham, Archie Perkins, Nic Martin, Harry Jones, Nate Caddy and Jye Caldwell, among others, are all on the up.
“When you are in the thick of it you don’t know what a good environment is in until you are in one,” he said.
“And at this stage of my career it is bloody nice to be a part of a fun and really driven group.
“The fun is in the hard work.
“Knowing we are working bloody hard and we are all on the same path to achieve the ultimate success.
“The small standards are really being upheld and any niggling things that come to the surface get nicked on the head really quick.
“And that comes down to alignment and leadership across the board and we have a heap of help around me which is great.”
Whenever it ends, Heppell will leave a strong legacy as one of the club’s most respected and unselfish figures.
More than anything, he said he has always just wanted Essendon players to be happy being themselves.
And that meant not establishing their “whole identity” in footy, and the highs and lows that are a part of life in the AFL spotlight.
He remains grateful for all of it. But can football deliver him a fairytale ending this season?
It would be sweet.
“Have I enjoyed my footy career? Absolutely,” he said.
“If you sat here and said would you rather have a real smooth ride and away you go and flush it and win flags.
“Or (would I rather) go through enormous challenges?
“Doing that builds enormous character and if you can come out the other side with some form of success, I would take that every day of the week, to experience the sweetness on the other side of difficulty is one of the best things in life.”
HEPPELL HITS FASHION
Dyson Heppell is about to hit the fashion game with his special mate, Harrison Pennicott.
The pair have become great mates amid Pennicott’s battle with auto-immune disease scleroderma.
And now Heppell is bringing Harrison’s designs to life as part of a new clothing label called ‘Haych’ which will launch next month.
“Harrison has been massive in my life and he loves his drawing and his artwork so we are using them as the designs for the garments,” Heppell said.
“We talked about a bucket list of stuff he wants to do in his life and the proceeds from this will go towards nailing some of that.”
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What would you rather hear, that it was a picnic? Which end of the scale do you think is closer to reality for the players?
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And there isn’t
“The ability to sum up situations and look around and go, do I need to take off, should I tuck in and support here, and let those guys get up the ground and attack the game? That is what I’m happy doing.“
This is true. He does have excellent game awareness. He will be important in finals.
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“Sheil be right mate, the drugs will be out of my system by the 250th”
Nah, you’re not doing it right.
He is crap and an 18 year old kid can replace him and he is just holding the team back.
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He’s right.
Closer to picnic than hell for the aforementioned reasons. That’s not to say it was easy but jeez, bit of perspective.
Exactly.
So Alex as per usual is just puffing hot air.
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Archie Roberts has been emergency a couple of times.
Wanganeen has also put in a couple of good performances off half back.
I do not agree with the view that a player must clearly be better in the position than the player they are replacing. Considerations such as future planning, development and the strengths of the individual need to be looked at.
Both Roberts and Wanganeen have good pace which has been lacking all around ground, but particularly off half back.
Heppells ability to ‘decide when to give players a chop out’ or words to that effect, can be provided by almost any of our defenders.
If you want to play an older player until the wheels fall off, then thats fine, but at the moment we have absolutely no idea who will replace heppell or whether they will be any good. Resting Heppell at times during the season an giving some games to the aforementioned players would have been ideal as we could gauge whether they are up to it or not.
Unfortunately, at this point, we have NFI. It doesn’t allow us to plan for the future, and as much as this forum loves to close its eyes to it, Hepp has one more year (at absolute best) left in him. If we had done an iota of planning and development in this position, I suggest that date probably would have been brought forward to end of this season. But we will just keep kicking the can down the road in pure essendon fashion.
Heppell has been fine this year. He hasn’t been great, outstanding, or exceeding anyones expectations. He’s just been getting by. His deficiencies have been hidden and his ability to impact on games at certain points has been a definite quality which he brings to the table. But if you are suggesting to me that Heppell isnt stale and that nobody else could fill his role and maybe bring some other needed attributes to it, then I think you have rocks in your head.
Our treatment of heppell is case in point for my concerns around Brad Scott at the moment. Youngsters dont get any real opportunity and older players are always preferenced. Dropping Caddy to allow Goldstein to come back in is just stupid in every single sense of the word. Playing Hepp for every single ■■■■■■■ game this season as opposed to resting him and trying out some youngster is equally as stupid or at the very least, short sighted.
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He knew he had to go early
Archie will get there. There is no rush. He will take Hepps spot next year.
I know you want knew shiny toys to throw out of your cot but you will have to wait.
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