{"id":337330,"date":"2025-12-09T14:33:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T14:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/337330\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T14:33:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T14:33:33","slug":"afl-former-bombers-skipper-heppell-joins-collingwood-coaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/337330\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL: Former Bombers skipper Heppell joins Collingwood coaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ex-Essendon captain Dyson Heppell has joined AFL rivals Collingwood as a development coach.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

1 Related<\/p>\n

Heppell, 33, who quit playing at the end of the 2024 season after a decorated 253-game career, will start in January with the Pies.<\/p>\n

The beloved former Bomber skipper spent last season playing in his home town of Leongatha in Victoria’s Gippsland region.<\/p>\n

Collingwood have also pinched ruck coach Greg Stafford from Melbourne, where he spent 11 seasons.<\/p>\n

Dyson Heppell runs out for his final AFL match.\u00a0Photo by Chris Hyde\/AFL Photos\/via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Magpies’ football manager Charlie Gardiner says Heppell and Stafford are key inclusions.<\/p>\n

“Dyson is a fantastic addition,” Gardiner said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“His experiences as a player, including his knowledge around leadership, will be a valuable asset.<\/p>\n

“Working predominantly with our upcoming talent, Dyson’s ability to form strong relationships and understand the needs of players will allow him to be influential and mentor our emerging talent.<\/p>\n

“Greg has over 20 years of football experience and has a track record of developing talented players. He will play a pivotal role in developing our current and future rucks.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ex-Essendon captain Dyson Heppell has joined AFL rivals Collingwood as a development coach. Editor’s Picks 1 Related Heppell,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-337330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}