AFL Player #21: Dyson Heppell aka Farnsy

[Lore]

Contract Status: Unrestricted Free Agent 2024
My Boy Draft 2024: Pick 27, Highly Evolved

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

I don't have a major issue with him as Captain even though I don't think he is the best choice.

Even though he tries he is not a clearance machine despite the big body.

Should be in the backline IMO. I think his efforts are good but needs to play behind the ball because of his lack of pace.

Heppell to half back, Goddard to wing, Langford in the middle.

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

Agreed with all of that, Hurley still escaping the scrutiny that should be headed his way, he has laid 3 tackles in the last 4 rounds.

Those "quarterback" types dont tackle though....Laird/Simpson/Hurn/Suckling/Goddard/Hurley...150 odd possessions and 3 tackles between the lot of them this round.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Needs Goddards role. Hes better in the air and can actually cover some ground to help the rebound.

 

[JayJ20]

Just out of curiosity, does Zaharakis also have a crack?

No.

Heppell does and that cannot be denied. His leadership and execution can be questionable, but not his effort. I do however firmly believe that he is being played out of position.

A player like Heppell would never be the major ball winner, big inside mid and clearance machine at any other club. No one would expect him to play that role because he is not built for it. He has never been that type of player and will never be that type of player.

You cannot build a midfield around Heppell, but that's what we're trying to do. We're surrounding him with an army of small bodies. How would that ever work? It hasn't and it won't work.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Has a fair dinkum crack every week and some of the commentary on him here is nothing short of disgraceful. It seems everyone's frustration at the lack of ability of the rest of the group is bearing out on our captain.

Just because the list is at a stage that he's the best suited captain without being an inside beast is not his fault.

He is a gun player who has very little support at the moment.

 

[Darealrath]

Pretty simple - he's playing a role he's not entirely suited to due to necessity and it's blunting his effectiveness. Get a couple of effective bullocking types alongside him (or a star like Cripps) and he'll thrive.

 

[Bombermania]

For all the talk about Hepp, he received very little credit for the job he did on Mitchell last week, kept to just 16 posses in the first half.

 

[BrunoV]

No.

Heppell does and that cannot be denied. His leadership and execution can be questionable, but not his effort. I do however firmly believe that he is being played out of position.

A player like Heppell would never be the major ball winner, big inside mid and clearance machine at any other club. No one would expect him to play that role because he is not built for it. He has never been that type of player and will never be that type of player.

You cannot build a midfield around Heppell, but that's what we're trying to do. We're surrounding him with an army of small bodies. How would that ever work? It hasn't and it won't work.

Played out of position? How have we gotten to the point that we want to play a slow player with questionable disposal at half back?

He needs to play on the wing in Mutch's role, which is essentially as a defensive winger. He is no where near dangerous enough nor have we ever seen him beat an opponent 1-v-1 to think that he should be playing in defence.

 

[BrunoV]

Has a fair dinkum crack every week and some of the commentary on him here is nothing short of disgraceful. It seems everyone's frustration at the lack of ability of the rest of the group is bearing out on our captain.

Just because the list is at a stage that he's the best suited captain without being an inside beast is not his fault.

He is a gun player who has very little support at the moment.

This is how I know that for all of the pragmatic talk you've been crediting yourself with in the last few weeks, you were probably talking up our flag chances at the start of the year.

 

[Doss]

Well that just isn't true.

 

[JayJ20]

Played out of position? How have we gotten to the point that we want to play a slow player with questionable disposal at half back?

He needs to play on the wing in Mutch's role, which is essentially as a defensive winger. He is no where near dangerous enough nor have we ever seen him beat an opponent 1-v-1 to think that he should be playing in defence.

Even if he is not in defence, he'd need to be at least a 3rd-4th string midfielder to be at his best.

He'd be good and consistent if he was currently at Richmond or Geelong.

Blaming him for our woes is a cop out. He shouldn't be in the position of having a midfield build around him.

 

[windyhill]

Things are going poorly when this bloke starts copping it. ******* hell !

 

[BrunoV]

Even if he is not in defence, he'd need to be at least a 3rd-4th string midfielder to be at his best.

He'd be good and consistent if he was currently at Richmond or Geelong.

Blaming him for our woes is a cop out. He shouldn't be in the position of having a midfield build around him.

It has nothing to do with blaming him for woes.

If he's playing in the first midfield rotation he's getting all of the midfield time and that's largely on the premise that he's an effective ball winning midfielder when he's not.

There is no point brining kids in to play in the middle when they won't get any time anyway. We need Heppell to ultimately take one for the team and play a different because while I wouldn't even start to argue that he's the cause of our current state, we also don't need to see anymore to make an informed decision.

I'm thinking about Matthew Boyd moving to half back, as an example. He'd still have performed well in the middle but that's not where the Dogs needed or wanted him to play.

 

[TheGrizz]

Unfortunately for Dyson i think he is being shoehorned into a role he isnt suited to fill.
We are asking him to win consistently on the coal face and add grunt, then turn around and make up for the defensive deficiencies of our other mids which he cant do. Not many can.

For me he is more of an Andrew Embley or Blake Caracella than a Kennedy or Voss. Adequate ball winning ability that can rotate inside but is better patrolling the 100m or so in between the 50s on either wing. He was AA in 2015 so it is possible but he had Watson, Goddard etc playing more inside at that time to do the heavy lifting.

Trying to lead a team devoid of effort cant be easy either.

 

[Old Campaigner]

He’s a midfielder and should play there, he just needs a big bodied mid on the inside to rip the ball out of the pack and feed it to him.

 

[BrunoV]

He’s a midfielder and should play there, he just needs a big bodied mid on the inside to rip the ball out of the pack and feed it to him.

So he can do what with it? Plod away from a stoppage and turn it over?

 

[VelvetSledge]

Get Wines in the middle to fire a handball out to him running past for the clearance and watch the tables turn.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

love heppell and dont for a second question his work rate.

There are 2 things that do stand out for mine. His willingness to bring mongrel to the game and his kicking is ******* woeful at best, needs to drop the dimwit surfer look and get stuck in.

 

[Zach Package]

It’s interesting that we always compare him stylistically to Pendlebury yet we refuse to use him as such. We have not optimised his role and he’s certainly not alone

 

[BrunoV]

It’s interesting that we always compare him stylistically to Pendlebury yet we refuse to use him as such. We have not optimised his role and he’s certainly not alone

I thought that was over.

 

[VelvetSledge]

I love that every comment on the Facebook interview of him was a bunch of middle aged people saying, "Cut your hair, shave, and get black boots".

Because we all know that your appearance is the biggest detriment to your performance on a football field.

 

[Zach Package]

I thought that was over.

It’s in line with how I’ve always read Heppell. Capable enough as a first possession guy at the coal face but not where he’s best served.

Now Pendlebury is obviously the better player but the pies have also surrounded him with big dumb meatheads like Greenwood and Treloar which allows him to operate as more of a first receiver and distributer by hand and foot. I’m far more comfortable in Heppell (and Goddard for that matter) playing that role than I am with him at the bottom of packs, the issue is that we’ve got no inside midfield so Heppell in particular has been shunted into positions that don’t favour his game.

 

[Kakkle]

Get Wines in the middle to fire a handball out to him running past for the clearance and watch the tables turn.

Slow & poor disposal, and somehow you want him to be a receiving outside player?

 

[Lore]

Happy Birthday, Skipper...

 

[vast]

Im not saying he doesnt try or is the cause of our problems but I still think for a captain and leader of our Midfield to not lay a tackle for 3 qtrs and finish on 1 for the match given our predicament with defensive pressure, is simply not good enough nowhere near it.

I remember last year Selwood and Dangerfield were criticised heavily for having only 1 tackle between them when we beat them and it was heavily focused on by the media, Well I hope the same happens here. The club is so lost at the moment if they just set that as a focus/goal for this week to show some sort of direction, its poor that is even has to be done now as it should be a non negotiable from rnd 1 but here we are.