David King doesn’t want to see Dyson Heppell move back to defence, imploring him to fight for his spot in the midfield in 2021.
The 28-year-old endured an injury-plagued 2020 campaign, playing just three games after a delayed pre-season and a subsequent serious ankle injury sustained at training.
Heppell started his career at the Bombers across half back and there’s been calls from some quarters for him to move out of the midfield to allow the club’s younger on-ballers more game time.
When asked whether new coach Ben Rutten should consider playing Heppell in defence next year, David King said it was a move he wouldn’t be making.
“Not for me,” King said on SEN Breakfast when asked about Heppell playing in defence.
“He’s not going to bring speed into the game, whether it’s his own movement or his speed of ball movement – he’s a ball winner and a midfielder clearance contested possession winner.
“If he can’t do that, then the challenge is on Dyson to fight for a spot. That sounds stupid, but Dyson needs to get back to his best.
“When he’s fit and firing, he can play some great football but we haven’t seen it for a little while. He just needs to get some clear air.”
King said Essendon is a club “under threat”, with Heppell forced to be one of the public faces since taking over as captain in 2017.
“He’s one of those players that we all want to play well,” he said.
“We like Dyson as a fella and he’s very honest, but that football club is under threat everywhere and Dyson has unfortunately had to carry the can for that over the last couple of years.”
Essendon will take picks six, seven and eight to the National Draft next Wednesday, following the departures of Orazio Fantasia, Joe Daniher and Adam Saad during the off-season.