\n Dyson Heppell will join Collingwood as a development coach for the 2026 season\n <\/p>\n
Dyson Heppell warms up prior to the match between Brisbane and Essendon at the Gabba in round 24, 2024. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
ESSENDON great Dyson Heppell is set to join Collingwood as a development coach in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heppell will start with the Magpies in the New Year in a late football department move.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old spent 2025 playing for Port Melbourne in the VFL after calling time on his decorated 253-game career with the Bombers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heppell captained Essendon for six years between 2017 and 2022 and was named All-Australian in 2014 when he won the Crichton Medal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Gippsland Power product also played for Leongatha this year, helping his hometown club beat Traralgon in the Grand Final.<\/p>\n
Dyson Heppell in action during the VFL match between Port Melbourne and Collingwood at ETU Stadium in round 21, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
Collingwood has been searching for more development coaches to support the program under Craig McRae.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The football department at Olympic Park has undergone changes since the preliminary final loss to Brisbane in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Former Pie Matthew Lokan has returned to the club to coach the VFL team following the departure of Andy Otten in the off-season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matthew Lokan is seen during the SANFL clash between Port Adelaide and Adelaide on April 1, 2022. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
Premiership defender Tyson Goldsack was also appointed an assistant coach in the off-season. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Scott Selwood and Josh Fraser departed the club at the end of last season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dyson Heppell will join Collingwood as a development coach for the 2026 season Dyson Heppell warms up prior…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85,83],"class_list":["post-337701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337701","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=337701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}