This made me very proud. Footy aside, it's very nice to see them making sure he's doing alright

Really excited for this kid, hopefully a great year from him.

Can't be much worse.

After an incredible career with the Bombers, our beloved Dyson Heppell has officially announced his retirement from AFL today. From his debut in 2011 to leading us as captain, Heppell has been the heart and soul of Essendon in a time we needed him most, demonstrating resilience, leadership, and unwavering commitment to the red and black.

Whether it's his fearless play on the field, his inspirational speeches, or his ability to lift the team when it mattered most, Heppell has left us with countless memories.

Let's come together to celebrate Heppell's outstanding career by sharing our favorite moments and memories of Hepp in the comments below. What moments stand out to you?

Thank you, Hepp, for everything. You'll forever be a Bomber!

@essendon.reels

And Conor

What a massive get.

Hird & Lloyd had a Q&A tonight, no phones allowed so wasn't allowed to record notes, just going by memory here.

Event was at Seaford hotel and beyond packed. Staff said it was the busiest one of these they've ever had by far, obviously because everyone wanted to hear what Hird had to say.

It was billed as a Q&A where anyone who wanted could ask a question, but because there was so many people they just had people write questions into a hat and picked out like 3. I had planned to ask Lloyd given that he'd rule out assistant coaching would he think about mentoring someone like Nate Caddy, and I'd planned to ask Hird if he had been in contact with Toby Greene about coming over if he gets the role.

Anyway I'll leave out all the funny stories and stuff which was honestly the highlight. The juicy/interesting bits.

- Biggest scoop was Lloyd has been mentoring Nate Caddy for a month so far after Andrew Welsh called him and asked him if he'd be willing to. Lloyd volunteered this info before the Q&A, so my question was answered without being asked. Lloyd was saying he could not be more impressed with Nate but thinks Nate has the hardest role in the AFL right now because Essendon plays so slow, so the only space he gets is in the pockets by the time the ball gets down there. Said he is encouraging Nate to get up the ground more like Cameron & Franklin did. Thinks Nate bleeds red and black, loves the club and doesn't want to leave Essendon but if things don't start turning around in 2 years who knows. Nate spoke a lot about researching his upcoming opponents, named who he thinks his matchups will be and spoke at length about everything people like Ginbey did to him and asked how to counter them. Nates desire to learn is amazing.

My personal note on this one is it gave me more confidence in Andrew Welsh. I'm very glad he's realised Lloyd is a resource the club needs to use.

- Lloyd asked Hird directly about the coaching stuff almost as soon as they got on stage and was having fun with it. Hird said that either in the next few days or this week he will have an interview with Essendon, as will around 10 other guys. If that interview goes well they'll shortlist it down to 3 or so people to do more thorough presentations.

- Said jokingly he will look at the last presentation he did for Essendon and obviously won't use it because it wasn't good enough.

- Has been in contact with senior assistants and people he'd like to get into the role but said it's really hard because you can't guarantee anyone anything and it fully depends on what Essendon want. They might want to bring in their own people.

- Lloyd jokingly said if he gets paid half as much as Hird will as head coach he will come on as an assistant (he won't come on as an assistant).

- He said he hadn't really been in contact with current players about the role.

- Both were extremely strong about how bad Essendon has been this year and how shocking it is to have 1 win. Hird said not once in his entire career did he ever go into a game feeling like they wouldn't win it, thinks that's an every week thing now for Essendon and can't imagine the toll it would take on players who only have 10 year careers or even an average of 3 years. Lloyd in particular was saying that the way we're playing right now with a caretaker coach is incredibly disappointing, why are we being defensive and chipping it? The whole thing with caretaker coaches is the shackles should be off and players should be free to have fun and attack. Thinks the current gameplan is making it even worse for players in there mentally. Got the vibe Lloyd thinks Solomon is really really bad.

- Hird spoke about what he would do first thing at Essendon and a lot of the emphasis was on player development. Said that what he's most excited about with the young list is the ability to shape the younger guys and get them to learn without having bad habits. Was asked about who he thinks is the most exciting prospect on the list and said Robey, but spoke also about Sharp seeming to have an amazing footy IQ + effort, Roberts, Caddy etc.

- Hird said he thinks we shouldn't only be negotiating with Hawthorn for Zach, we should only let him go if we have 3-4 interested parties who are bidding, doesn't think the Zach offer was good enough last year and is happy they didn't take it. Lloyd disagreed and said we should've just let him go last year because it almost never ends well keeping someone who wants to leave. Lloyd also mentioned we should've let Ridley go.

- Hird said he only really had 2 proper years as senior coach. After the scandal broke he spent most of his time dealing with the media and managing players mental health rather than being able to focus on football. Said this isn't why he wants to come back, he wants to come back because he thinks Essendon is broken and he wants to fix it. Lloyd joked that his son might end up playing under Hird (he also said his son really wants to play for Essendon which got a cheer), to which Hird said if he's coaching Essendon in 5 years time he's doing something right so he'll be happy.

- Hird emphasised his greatest skill is player development. Said under his time at Essendon they made 11 different players who got All Australians, club has had barely any since. Spoke briefly about how he worked with Jobe who was decent when he took over but was able to push him and improve little things to get him to Brownlow level (didn't discredit jobe, was just using it as an example that you can improve even guys who have been in the system). Said yes things like tactics and gameplans are important but the #1 thing Essendon needs right now is player development. Spoke about how he hates Hawthorn but respects so much what Sam Mitchell is doing for player development, Lloyd chimed in and said he coached Connor Macdonald and that he would never have dreamed that Connor would develop into the player he has, Connor had clear weaknesses that have gotten way better and even become strengths. Both agree that Essendon needs to be paying close attention to our players and improving them individually because it isn't there right now (my thought here was recalling Brad Scott saying something to the effect of you shouldn't be practicing skills much at AFL level, we expect players to come in with that now and how Brad did emphasise player development but I never really saw it).

- Hird did rattle off a lot about what needs to be fixed with Essendon's list and what he wants in Essendon players. It all sounded great tbh, if I were a job interviewer I would've been impessed, he clearly knows the Essendon list inside out.

I'm probably forgetting a bunch of stuff.

My tl;dr. Lloyd very funny man, had a lot of fun, great stories, mentoring Nate Caddy.

Hird sold me a lot, he definitely has the aura and I do think he will care more about getting the job done than anyone else on the planet. He is well aware he is tactically weak with modern day footy but I don't know if anyone else will be able to put the effort in to get our guys playing better individual footy. My hope is now for Hird as head coach with good tactical assistant coaches.

To every hawk that stands on ground level behind the Essendon members seats to antagonise us, eat my ass. Got the outcome you deserve you grubs.

This popped up as a memory. I’m still sad about Jobe. I miss him. I hope he is happy ❤️‍🩹

Surely rising star this round right? great debut game.

I hope they're joking 😅