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Dyson Heppell – Essendon

Height: 189cm

Weight: 80kg

Fantasy position: DEF/MID

Price: $132,500 DT, $153,600 SC

Role: Rebounding defender/inside and outside mid

I thought it was high time I wrote about an early pick from the 2010 National Draft. These late round picks and pre-listed GC players that were on traded are all well and good, but let’s not forget about the kids that were highly rated – or in fact, any player that is still in their teens (yeah, I’ve had a real mature aged theme in my articles so far).

Dyson Heppell was drafted with Pick 8 to the Bombers after an impressive 2010, where he was joint Morrish Medallist (TAC Cup B&F) and led the league in kicks, despite missing some games in the middle of the year to play for Vic Country in the U/18 National Championships. He started the year across half back before moving up to the midfield, proving to be an elite ball winner, ranking third in the TAC Cup for contested possessions and fourth in uncontested.

He’s an excellent in both DT and SC, averaging 113 in DT in the TAC Cup last year, and while I don’t have his SC score the Prospectus does say he had the third highest “Champion Data ranking” (which is SC’s scoring system) in the competition.

One of Heppell’s big advantages is that he’s back and mid eligible in the fantasy world. Personally I’ve been building my team around having Heppell in my midfield (especially since Ben Jacobs got diagnosed with glandular fever) for dual positioning, which is handier than ever with byes in the AFL this year. If you’re missing two elite mids in one week it can be handy to balance your points by moving a Goddard, Gibbs or Deledio into your midfield and Heppell onto your back line bench.

Another reason Heppell is an attractive option is that by all reports James Hird absolutely loves him. It’s not only good enough that Essendon have spots in their 22 up for grabs and a new coach looking to blood kids, but he’s already a coaches pet. With the Bombers in full rebuild mode they’ll be looking to get plenty of experience into their 18-21 year old stars they’ve taken with early picks over the last few years and Heppell could be one of their more promising ones. He should have great job security and with his junior ball winning ability is fairly likely to catch up to the speed and intensity of AFL footy.

His kicking efficiency was really good at the U/18 National Carnival this year, but I wouldn’t call his kicking a massive asset. I’d say his ability to accumulate and run is more his strength than his kicking skills. I caught most of Essendon’s intra club game last Wednesday and was really impressed with Heppell – in fact, he was the big positive I took from that game, however a few of his kicks had a bit too much loop on them.  This certainly isn’t to say he’s a bad kick and he brings enough other weapons to only be a decent kick.

He’s very clean below his knees, which is one of those little fantasy one percenters that can really help. With clean ground skills he can obviously gather the ball often enough to keep scoring for you. His endurance is another big plus. He can run all day and this allows him to link up and be involved in more plays.

He could be a viable option to stay in your team all year, maybe as a starter early on (at his price point perhaps a bit too expensive for the bench) but as you make your upgrades he could be a good one to keep on your bench, especially if you have him as part of a DP link between your midfield and back line.