Fact is it was our best chance if we won a final or who knows how far we could have gone.
It’s hard to say really. AA players could have continued to develop under Hird/Thompson and gone on with it. Instead the majority of the players lost their jobs for a year, accused of all sorts of things, spent a number of years fighting it and losing, lost the love for the game and their desire to keep pushing, saw their coaches destroyed and their club ripped apart.
Maybe they wouldn’t have reached great heights, but they were never given the chance to, so it is hard to say they would not have. We judge them for what they became after all that series of events but they were very different people by then and so was the club.
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All the more reason to say a big FARK you David Evans.
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I’m confident we would have won a final and imbeded a pretty good model to maintain success.
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VFL club Port Melbourne chases former Essendon star Dyson Heppell to join Hird, Dodoro
Will Dyson Heppell join James Hird and Brendan McCartney at VFL club Port Melbourne? The Borough are making a big play for the former Bombers skipper and another massive Essendon figure has quietly joined.
Paul Amy And Jon Ralph | Code Sports
October 04, 2024 1:58 pm
VFL club Port Melbourne is in talks with former Essendon captain Dyson Heppell as it attempts to extend its new Dons connection.
The Borough are keen to secure the 253-game AFL player as a playing assistant to new senior coach Brendan McCartney.
Making changes after a thin 2024 season, Port secured McCartney and Essendon great James Hird as director of coaching in August.
The club has a level of confidence that Heppell will also sign, after a brilliant career as a beloved Essendon player and captain who led the club out of its darkest hour with the peptides drama.
And in another coup for Port, high-profile former Essendon recruiter Adrian Dodoro is helping snare playing talent for the new coaching team.
Dodoro is one of the AFL’s best recruiters and was instrumental in securing state league stars Nic Martin and Sam Durham, who were second and third in the Dons’ best and fairest on Thursday night.
Dodoro stepped aside when Essendon chief executive Craig Vozzo hired former Eagle Matt Rosa, as part of a transitional arrangement that resulted in the long-time Dons staffer moving on. Dodoro has for many years owned Port Melbourne cafe Bay 101.
Hird’s son Tom joined Port Melbourne in 2023, introducing his father to the famous state league club.
Since announcing his retirement, Dyson, 32, has been linked to a return to his country club, Leongatha in the Gippsland league. If he does join Port, he’s likely to list the Parrots as his home club, especially with his brother Aaron set to resume at the ‘Gatha after spending this year overseas.
Port Melbourne is determined to put together an elite program under McCartney, with Hird’s arrival a huge coup given he had considered returning to senior coaching at Essendon in past years before turning his eye to business.
Hird will be a jack-of-all-trades and might turn his hand to coaching and selection, with the Essendon champion only 51 and potentially eyeing a comeback to senior coaching. The VFL role could be a perfect stepping stone if it stokes his competitive fires.
AFL aspirants considering a state league club as a pathway could end up with ex-Dogs coach McCartney as one of football’s best development coaches, the tactical acumen and leadership of Hird, and the on-field coaching and mentoring of Heppell.
McCartney said recently that Hird was keen to give back to football.
“He can see the game, he can teach the game, footballers relate to him. He has still got an amazing aura about him. He is one of the greatest ever to play the game and he’s got a wealth of footy knowledge,” McCartney said of Hird, who resigned as Essendon coach in August 2015.
“He will be the old chairman of selectors, he will be hands-on. Every coach needs help.
“Watching it first-hand, he involves everyone, he communicates with everyone and that person in front of him is the most important person in the world.”
Port Melbourne finished down the ladder this year and missed the finals for the third consecutive season.
Coach Adam Skrobalak resigned after deciding to relocate with his family to the Gold Coast.
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We’d 
have won a final if he stayed.
Would have also got a 25% off of Mokbels finest deal after it from the Bomber shop
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Stopped reading here
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This is great news.
Would mean he is less likely to stick around at the club in some sort of development/coaching role.
Hope it happens.
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Also the fact that dodoro is hanging around and doing recruitment for port Melbourne too. Probably means he is gone from EFC for good.
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I saw Hepps at a do last night in Rosebud and he did mention that it was highly probable that he will play a few games for Port as well as having a kick with his mates down in Gippsland. Hes keen to have a break with his fiancée and do some travel for a while.
I did ask him who he preferred as coach between Brad and James and while the answer was a little stayed he did prefer James because he gave him his start at Essendon.
Top bloke and I wish him all the best for his future
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He would also have been involved with Brendan McCartney when he was assistant coach at EFC.
We may see Heppell and Hird ( Tom) featuring in the occasional Port game.
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My ol teacher Macca.
Looked 800 when he was 30.
Was very much the @Finding_Nino fire and brimstone type of coach to us as school for many years but did have a great knack of getting the absolute most out of you.
Played my best ever footy under him as a junior when comparing to my local club or district footy, but didn’t like the guy at all.
He & Brian Cordy were pivotal in getting Brad Johnson to the Bulldogs. Still blows my mind that he played 350, AA caps and Captain when he wasn’t even the best player in our senior high school. It’s not what you know I can tell you that!
Fark, I go there all the time, never seen him once.
Good coffee and nice pizza, and some very good Italian Chianti as well.
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Did grant from lunchtime catch up write that article?
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