AFL Player #21: Dyson Heppell aka Farnsy

[Lore]

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

 

[ant555]

Saved us more times than he hurt us this week .

 

[katana]

good second half, woeful early. still think he upsets the balance of our defence. should be first on the chop for ridley.

obviously, he won't be.

 

[Charliebrow 16]

Always love a quiet Dyson Heppell thread. Great game. Lost track of Higgins a couple of times, but so did Redman. Some of his efforts in the second half were huge.

 

[quotemokc]

His contested and courageous marking is very important to the morale of the side.

I still don't think that Heppell, Kelly and Laverde should be in the same team.

 

[Happyskeret]

He is very good overhead.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Was good today

 

[cobra land]

No one can knock his courage, backs into packs without fear.

Was very good from 2nd quarter on, I hope he can mantain the type of form.

 

[Zach Package]

Old man river just keeps rolling along.



I dare the kids to out run him, in fact, I double dare them.

 

[Darealrath]

Very good today.

 

[carnthedons]

I’ve been one of his biggest critics but was good today.


No doubt I’ll be back to mouthing Atley at Disco next week though

 

[dank420_]

good second half, woeful early. still think he upsets the balance of our defence. should be first on the chop for ridley.

obviously, he won't be.

I’d be dropping Laverde before Heppell.

He played a lot better than a lot are acknowledging here.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Outstanding today ..give him 3 more years

 

[katana]

I’d be dropping Laverde before Heppell.

He played a lot better than a lot are acknowledging here.

lav was good on memberey i thought. went to work, no missed tackles. tidy defensive shift.

its a balance thing, heppell plays a fairly loose role, i'd rather the person doing that was able to hurt the opposition the other way. which hep really struggles with. ridley can do both but is of a lot more value in heppell's role than in laverde's role.

 

[windyhill]

Body on the line.

 

[Runk]

He was great today. Really good.

 

[Foxx]

Love this thread today.

 

[Vander18]

Won some contests but that’s not the issue ….. I don’t think he fits with how we are trying to play.

We are taking up very agressive defensive positions so you need players who can close space and transition quickly. Hep and Lav are both struggling with this.

 

[Petrify]

Spent the first 5 minutes bitching about him because he made some horrible mistakes.

He shut me up for the rest of the game and played great.

 

[Schnitzengruben]

Think that was his best game in quite a while. Few blunders early but was honestly very solid for most of it and saved us a few times.

 

[FootyGuru]

Won some contests but that’s not the issue ….. I don’t think he fits with how we are trying to play.

We are taking up very agressive defensive positions so you need players who can close space and transition quickly. Hep and Lav are both struggling with this.

His defensive positioning in our zones is one of his best strengths, not to mention his courage in the air. I prefer him on the wing rather than down back though, because he really struggles with small forwards who can get up the ground and turn him around with speed and stay down in marking contests, while Heppell generally tries to intercept.

I still don’t think he would be in Essendons best 22 but would be one of the first selected if someone got hurt.

 

[FootyGuru]

His defensive positioning in our zones is one of his best strengths, not to mention his courage in the air. I prefer him on the wing rather than down back though, because he really struggles with small forwards who can get up the ground and turn him around with speed and stay down in marking contests, while Heppell generally tries to intercept.

I still don’t think he would be in Essendons best 22 but would be one of the first selected if someone got hurt.

Sorry to quote myself, but if Ridley is fit next game I’d move hep to the wing to cover for Durham.

Think heps kicking can be hidden as a skinny wing, and his quick hands inside can be a weapon.

 

[citizen-erased]

That was a shift.
Has the experience to play that role. As mckay and lav improved, and martin got more damaging, his deficiencies became less an issue.

Ridley in, redman back in gear, reid back in. Can see the role hepp can play

 

[rumply]

Spent the first 5 minutes bitching about him because he made some horrible mistakes.

He shut me up for the rest of the game and played great.

Yeah same here but to be fair, I was bitching about all of them . I said some bad things early on but credit where credit is due, played well.

 

[ghostdog]

Won some contests but that’s not the issue ….. I don’t think he fits with how we are trying to play.

We are taking up very agressive defensive positions so you need players who can close space and transition quickly. Hep and Lav are both struggling with this.

Spot on. Yes he's tough and last night his physicality was stark. He was lucky we played harder defensively further up the ground because it gave him time to set up better. If we played a quicker team, like last week's Sydney, he wouldn't have gotten back quickly enough.

 

[FootyGuru]

Spot on. Yes he's tough and last night his physicality was stark. He was lucky we played harder defensively further up the ground because it gave him time to set up better. If we played a quicker team, like last week's Sydney, he wouldn't have gotten back quickly enough.

Zone is about keeping the ball in front of you. If they kick through it and get overlap, no one is beating the ball back to goal, so that’s irrelevant. Heppell pretty good at positioning and not letting the ball over his head. People need to remember elite kicking beats any defensive zone.