#21 Dyson "Go jam it” Heppell - 200th game this week (Part 1)

Hepp. If he has the support of the players he remains captain and the discussion on his captaincy is probably mute at this point.

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Needs to look at Cotchin.

Cotchin was bagged for years being a s*** captain but one day said “enough is enough” and the rest is history.

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What about Ambrose in there.

Not sure how the discussion is mute!

He’s the captain of a side that is a rabble and is falling apart at the seams!

Can’t continue to blame the coach for that.

Some players like Hirdy demand the team follow him by leading by example.

I don’t mind Heppell but his performances are more about him than about the team.

Hirdy or even Jobe legitimately left everything out on the field and were prepared to get hurt to ensure the team would follow their examples.

If it’s good enough for Cotchin then maybe Heppell needs to address a few things.

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Nothing would make me more happy than to belt Carlton and get our season back on track.

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In what universe does beating Carlton get our season back on track?
At best It puts a very tiny band-aid over an amputated leg.

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True but it might kick start the season.

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…and you would know, Sideshow barnz. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

In terms of his stats, Hepps is having his best year since 2014, when he was only ahead by 0.03%. He is also top of the list at Essendon and, according to Finalsiren.com, he ranks 9th in the entire comp. So I don’t think it’s fair to argue that he isn’t leading by example, or leaving everything he has on the field.

I’m not concerned with what final siren says. My concern is that he is effectively our main clearance player but is still very much an outside player.

You can argue that Myers role is to be the enforcer but for mine if Heppell was playing the inside role then we would have no value with Myers.

In my opinion Heppell would be far more valuable sacrificing his game so that others can flourish.

As I said above I don’t mind Heppell as I think he was the obvious choice at the time but he’s not doing anything out there that he wasn’t doing previously. He’s effectively the same player he has always been and I would have liked to see him take on more responsibility.

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Most uninspiring EFC captain I’ve ever seen.

Bland is a really good description. He’s Beige.

If no one is following, they are not leaders. Leaders don’t create followers, people follow them.

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That why Myers is in there. But everyone on here rubbishes him.

When is the last time Dyson put on a shepherd, laid a crunching tackle or bump? Needs to get some aggression into his game, and needs to get it out of his teammates too

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Agree, we’re saying the same thing.

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■■■■ me, can this guy just not jog in front of ■■■■■■■ teammates that are about to kick? happened like 5-6 times on the weekend.

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I’ve read a couple of articles by a guy called Sam Walker who writes for the Wall Street journal.

He’s written books on sports leadership. He’s researched many of the greatest teams in all types of sports throughout the world. Very interestingly He found that all the greatest teams had the same type of Captain.

Personality of each captain was introverted. They rarely gave Team talks. They hated the spotlight and talking to the media. Often when the team went out celebrating, the captain stayed at home. They refused to talk at sponsorship endorsements, etc.

Apparently each of them was driven by the same thing, the team ahead of self. Team achievement always ahead of personal accolades. They were willing to sacrifice themselves, physically, mentally, verbally, and publically for the teams achievements. These captains have been willing to take an opposition player out of the game, by causing physical harm on them, if they believed it would lead to the team’s goal. Ie. Roy Keane.

They rarely give team talks. But they were upfront, brutal with opinions, told it like it is, and never backed down from what they said. They also wanted the same feedback from the players. They used non-verbal communication a lot of the the time. If a player got a stare down from the captain, they knew exactly what they did wrong.

The players walked taller knowing that their captain ‘had their back’. Especially in the coaches meetings. It’s not unusual for the coach and captain to constantly clash.

The issue with these types of players is they are hard to identify. It often a huge gamble to give a player like this the captaincy. Imagine Paddy Ambrose being named the captain. There would be serious questions being asked, But IMO suits the criteria. The only other person I could think of was Hurley.

There’s a bit of a video below and he’s named the most underrated captains in history.

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probably better to make your video a html link that people click, broken when embedded.

what i get from that video is it should’ve been baguley.

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I’m told that Ken Fraser was a brilliant captain and that the relationship between him and Coleman was great, possibly reflecting that they were similar quiet but confident articulate types without big egos who did not blow their own trumpet. He would round up the troops on the field through some of Essendon’s greatest years. Of course he had some great players but they were cohesive.
It’s much harder these days with constant media exposure and expectations that the captain will do promotions for the club and within the coterie/ sponsor groups.