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Bit of a thread on retiring @essendonvfl skipper Aaron Heppell. We got to the club about the same time, early on he was a fringe VFL player often not getting a game before a huge finals performance against the Dogs in 2015 at North Port cemented his spot. His rate of improvement https://twitter.com/essendonvfl/status/1360004963649261570
from that point to this has been absurd, particularly for a bloke who hasn't been in a full time system. I may be biased but I viewed him as the best mid in the @VFL in 2019 even though he often had limited rotations while AFL listed guys developed (understandably, we're a
development program), his quality highlighted by his incredible 26 disp 4 goal performance in a Qualifying Final that season at Punt Rd against eventual premier Richmond who had 21 AFL listed guys playing - it was as good a performance as I've seen at VFL level.
3 out of our last 4 B&F's, VFL team of the year's, but still sadly never got that shot at AFL level. It's a genuine shame, I reckon he had a great AFL career in him. Beyond his playing ability though is his quality as a person and the brilliant leadership he's shown with our
group over the last several seasons - AFL club VFL programs can be tricky things with some players coming up from local leagues while others might've played in front of 90k at the 'G the week before, it takes a special kind of on-field leadership to bring those groups together
and he has it in spades (shoutout also to Heath Hocking, Hepp's captain then VC over the last few years). He'll be fantastic for the Parrots and sorely missed both by all of us at Essendon and the wider VFL.
P.S. Hey recruiters looking at SSP's, he's still only just turned 26.
P.S. Hey recruiters looking at SSP's, he's still only just turned 26.
