It says a lot about Dyson Heppell that when recalling the primary time he performed on Anzac Day, the previous skipper neglects to say that he was considered one of Essendon’s greatest gamers and was crushed for the Anzac Medal by one other Gippslander, Scott Pendlebury.
“It was simply unimaginable,” Heppell stated of the 2011 Anzac Day sport, the identical yr he gained the Rising Star award and was likened to his then coach James Hird and Pendlebury as a potential champion.
“I simply keep in mind the joy and the enjoyment, and the build-up within the lead-up for followers and members and, you already know, the footy neighborhood as an entire. It’s a day for everyone,” he stated, explaining how the event “places an unlimited smile on my face, figuring out that we play a small half in representing and displaying our respect to those that have fought and fallen for our nation”.
This could possibly be Dyson Heppell’s final Anzac Day match.Credit score: Wayne Taylor
On Tuesday, Heppell will play in his eleventh Anzac Day sport. Solely three of these earlier 10 video games had been victories and it’s telling that Heppell polled Brownlow votes in defeats in 2012, 2014 and 2015, underscoring the notion of him as a footballer who performs, no matter workforce fortunes and exterior components and who’s seen scant workforce success in his time at a traditionally profitable membership.
