AFL Player #21: Dyson Heppell aka Farnsy

[Lore]

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

 

[Shane Heard]

Would love to see him play a full season, otherwise he's done. Should not be Captain this season.

Harsh

 

[Shane Heard]

Hepp is a good mark, not so sure about a great kick, a bit floaty.


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at half back ..that’s all you need

as long as the kick hits the target ..floaty or not ..just consistent disposal by foot

he’s a smart footballer

 

[Cold Sober]

Harsh

No mate , fact.

 

[Shane Heard]

No mate , fact.

look...i know you’re around the same age as me and we have limited patience for old blokes running around during these bleak times for our beloved club.


However...if the Leongatha boy can contribute in a positive way early on in the season and maintain it..then play him


if he ####s up..drop him


no mercy..no favourites

it’s a brutal game

 

[The Donners]

at half back ..that’s all you need

as long as the kick hits the target ..floaty or not ..just consistent disposal by foot

Heppell’s floaty kicks won’t be to his teammate’s advantage under pressure.

If he’s playing at HB purely for the handball out of congestion then this role is his pension and should be his last season.

 

[BrunoV]

Really don’t see any reason he should play HBF. If his body isn’t up to playing inside mid I don’t think he has a role at AFL level.

Yes he reads the play well but there is no way he is a damaging enough player to be given an offensive role at HBF.

It's the place he can be "hidden" and in reality he's going to have to play somewhere for another few years.

The issue is that we're playing a makeshift defence.

Yesterday was so slow I'm not inclined to think much of anything expect some of the defensive efforts and only the positive.

Need to get 10 games into a Stewart, Ridley, Redman and Francis led combination asap. That's the core we know can play every game this year (Ambrose and Hurley both have injury problems at the least).

At least then there is something for Heppell to direct and feed off.

 

[Ambrosia]

what about a defensive HBF role

he can provide that

conserving energy and extracting handpasses out of packs to release runners / ball carriers

this is his new job

Defensive? He’s slow and not an overly strong body. He’s going to get the oppositions worst forward which is a waste as we could employ a much more damaging player in that role.

This is coming from a big Heppell fan btw. He gives everything he’s got on the field and off it but he needs to play mid or not at all.

 

[eth-dog]

Defensive? He’s slow and not an overly strong body. He’s going to get the oppositions worst forward which is a waste as we could employ a much more damaging player in that role.

This is coming from a big Heppell fan btw. He gives everything he’s got on the field and off it but he needs to play mid or not at all.

The answer is between the two.

He probably shouldn't play inside midfield. He shouldn't play half back. A wing suts him well.

 

[Shane Heard]

Heppell’s floaty kicks won’t be to his teammate’s advantage under pressure.

If he’s playing at HB purely for the handball out of congestion then this role is his pension and should be his last season.

so pretty much the same role as Goddard in his last two seasons

And not many were complaining about his slowness (i was)

but like Goddard, Heppell has a smart footy brain underpinned by years of experience

He’s worth a try and if his leg injuries reappear again he’ll probably end up
in the coaches box by round 10 helping out in same way

 

[ghostdog]

I don't have an issue with Heppell back, though the spots there are limited. Surely he's managed through the season anyway and rotates between hb and wing. It's his on-field direction that will be important, though I concur; he will/should probably be spending more time in the box by the end of the year. Unless his comeback this year is brilliant, the game looks like it's gone past him.

 

[Ambrosia]

so pretty much the same role as Goddard in his last two seasons

And not many were complaining about his slowness (i was)

but like Goddard, Heppell has a smart footy brain underpinned by years of experience

He’s worth a try and if his leg injuries reappear again he’ll probably end up
in the coaches box by round 10 helping out in same way

Goddard is/was a much better user than Heppell and more than a step quicker plus in his last two years we threw him all over the ground.

 

[The Donners]

so pretty much the same role as Goddard in his last two seasons

And not many were complaining about his slowness (i was)

but like Goddard, Heppell has a smart footy brain underpinned by years of experience

He’s worth a try and if his leg injuries reappear again he’ll probably end up
in the coaches box by round 10 helping out in same way

Goddard’s kicking was elite. One of the best field kicks of his era and in the same category as Luke Hodge as far as kicking goes. His final season was pretty much the only time he seemed rushed with the ball and he didn’t ALWAYS hit the target.

Heppell is nowhere near elite kicking. In fact I’d have him in the bottom 5% of kicks in the league.

 

[ghostdog]

Goddard’s kicking was elite. One of the best field kicks of his era and in the same category as Luke Hodge as far as kicking goes. His final season was pretty much the only time he seemed rushed with the ball and he didn’t ALWAYS hit the target.

Heppell is nowhere near elite kicking. In fact I’d have him in the bottom 5% of kicks in the league.

Difference between pick #1 and pick #8. Goddard far more durable for longer, too.

 

[ant555]

Difference between pick #1 and pick #8. Goddard far more durable for longer, too.

Goddard did not have to destroy his body playing inside midfield or have to stand out of footy for a season. He played 90% of his games running around as the loose man. Not having a crack at how good he was as he was bloody good but he did not play a role that got him smashed week in and week out.

 

[ant555]

I hope he can get back to form. I know a lot of the comment is pretty much people just being realistic about his situation and I have questions on where he can fit in but he has given everything to this club. It would be a shame if he bows out of the game a shadow of the player he was and could have been.

 

[ghostdog]

Goddard did not have to destroy his body playing inside midfield or have to stand out of footy for a season. He played 90% of his games running around as the loose man. Not having a crack at how good he was as he was bloody good but he did not play a role that got him smashed week in and week out.

Yeah fair call.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I’m not convinced his body is in as much trouble as some seem to think it is.

2020 was obviously a write off but prior to that he’d never played less than 18 games. People talk about him like he’s made of glass. He’s always been durable.

 

[Lore]

I’m not convinced his body is in as much trouble as some seem to think it is.

2020 was obviously a write off but prior to that he’d never played less than 18 games. People talk about him like he’s made of glass. He’s always been durable.

Durable above the ankles anyway. Not counting the "OP" he had as a junior.

 

[fairbump_playon]

I know there is a legit knock on his kicking.. just wanted to point out the issue is specifically his kicking penetration. His kicking DE wouldn't be too bad I don't reckon. He makes good decisions and doesn't often bite too much off.

Sure he would be better as a half back if he could split the field by foot but I reckon his class will get him through another couple of years even without any leg speed.

 

[BrunoV]

I’m not convinced his body is in as much trouble as some seem to think it is.

2020 was obviously a write off but prior to that he’d never played less than 18 games. People talk about him like he’s made of glass. He’s always been durable.

It's not going to be.

Back in the day a few of us were expressing the view that he'd become the next Pendlebury.

Sucked in by the loping gait, paying too much attention to physical similarities, I was. He's never shown the class in traffic nor the ability by foot.

He's a one paced accumulator, a poor man's Jack Macrae, and not a very good kick which means he's just not that good, a B grader at his best. His reputation is distorted by breaking on to the scene in the easiest role to play the game and the AA selectors jumping shark.

I don't recall a time he has ever been the focus of an opposition.

B grade midfielders need to play roles, e.g. inside workhorse or ball carrying running machine, not running around like franchise midfielders. I'd say that's why he's going to defence. He can be the experienced leader a Nick Maxwell or even Hodge at Brisbane (who was the first to make jokes about himself if it wasn't Jordan Lewis pointing out how badly he was being burned).

Heppell can be useful in the next 44 games if he can help to settle the defensive combination which may already have lost 4 starting players and all experience with them.

 

[fairbump_playon]

His generally good game last night was distorted by two bad decision making errors where he was waiting for something perfect to present upfield. He’s slow but I don’t think slower than previously.

 

[Old Campaigner]

He was responsible for a bit of entertainment last night, after that soccered kick was ruled deliberate out of bounds the nuffies sitting near me spent most of the rest of the game muttering to themselves about how defenders fisting the ball over the boundary should be deliberate OOB as well.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Personally liking what he’s bringing a lot. Not perfect but not even Richmond are, certainly a large net gain despite a few mistakes.

 

[DallasCrane316]

His speech to the group towards the end of the “building the culture” video is fantastic.

 

[ant555]

His generally good game last night was distorted by two bad decision making errors where he was waiting for something perfect to present upfield. He’s slow but I don’t think slower than previously.

Agree and both times he was done by not having an option straight away. The run down by Cameron looked bad but looking at it with full view of the field you could see the reason. What did not show up on the TV was if he did kick cross field straight away it was going to Geelong. Could have happened to anyone regardless of pace. He will continue to get a feel for the game again the more he plays.

Personally I think if the man on the mark rule speeds the ball movement up then sides will go more with 7 man defense which will suite us if we go that way , Heppell included as he is a decent mark and reads the play well. BJ will be pissed off they did not bring it in for his last year. He could have played another 3 years if he could revert back to his number 7 defender role.