Heppell loving his post-Bomber chapter

By Andrew Paloczi

WHILE most of Dyson Heppell’s talk at the recent Lardner Park Beef Day was about his footy journey and life, he shared a humorous saga that tied in with the event and once saw the then Essendon player from Leongatha appear to lug a body from Windy Hill in a sack.

It wasn’t long after becoming a Bomber that Heppell received a generous but rather cumbersome donation from Essendon player sponsor Rob Radford of Radford’s Abattoir, a speaker at the Beef Day.

The gift was a massive hessian sack of meat delivered to Windy Hill.

“I’m dragging this bloody sack of meat out of the back door of the club and there was a camera across the road filming me,” Heppell said, explaining he hoisted the bag onto his shoulder, not having seen the camera.

The incident resulted in him copping some light-hearted grief on the Footy Show, its hosts delighting in suggesting there was a dead body in the bag and awarding Heppell ‘Tool of the Week’.

Rob remained Heppell’s player sponsor throughout his career, continuing to provide him with choice cuts, although hopefully in smaller quantities.

Perhaps all that protein played an important part in the recent Leongatha Premiership player’s distinguished career at Essendon, in which he managed 253 games and was a long-term captain of the club.

Heppell said he is still celebrating the 2025 flag, his first Premiership since his junior days, having relished the opportunity to play alongside brother Aaron.

Stepping away from the AFL system at the end of the 2024 season had its challenges, with Heppell taking a while to adjust to the loss of the day-to-day routine after 14 years at the Bombers, but he’s now loving life’s next chapter.

It was a friendship he made while at Essendon that has provided him with a new direction, leading to a business venture.

“I was fortunate enough to meet a little fella, Harrison Pennicott, ‘Haych Man’,” Heppell said, explaining the youngster has autoimmune disease Scleroderma, a condition that claimed the life of Heppell’s grandmother.

Heppell first met Harrison at age five, who’d been given only two years to live but is now 13, the pair now in business together. 

“We’re running a clothing label called Haych,” Heppell said, explaining Harrison loves drawing and creates the designs featured on the clothes.

The proceeds of sales help tick off things Harrison wants to do.

It’s been a busy period, with Heppell driving Harrison around in Lamborghinis, going on helicopter rides, flying on Adrian Portelli’s private jet into Sydney for a day with Nick Kyrgios, and having an inner sanctum session with the Melbourne Storm.

The business venture has pretty much become a full-time gig, with Heppell’s wife Kate also involved.

Being an AFL player was one of the aspirations Heppell outlined in a letter written while in Grade 2, the alternatives being an NBA basketballer or an astronaut, albeit the latter was ruled out not too far down the track.

While his time in the AFL has ended, he’s enjoying the experience of playing footy for Port Melbourne in the VFL, where he has reunited with former Bombers coach James Hird and past Essendon assistant coach Brendan McCartney.

“Hirdy was an enormous mentor for me,” Heppell said.

Asked by a Beef Day attendee about Leongatha’s startling onfield success for a club from a small town, Heppell attributed much of that to the response to Beau Vernon’s spinal injury playing for the Parrots in 2012 and his subsequent coaching role.
“He came back to coach the club and he is such a lovable character that all the guys who grew up in Leongatha and had moved to various clubs over the years came back to play for Beau, and that set off a chain of success,” Heppell said.

The Parrots’ ability to develop young players and the perception of Leongatha as a destination club has kept the success going.