Standing in the Essendon rooms after his team's five-goalloss to Collingwood, Essendon youngster Dyson Heppell admitted the intensity ofthe Anzac Day game was far beyond anything he'd previously experienced infootball.

Given Heppell had played in only four AFL matches before theclash with the Magpies, his statement was not entirely surprising. What wassurprising was the way in which the youngster from Leongatha in Gippsland had handledthe fast and furious nature of the contest, which was played in front of acrowd of almost 90,000 people.

Not only did Heppell pick up 25 possessions, take six marksand lay five tackles while roaming across half-back, he also finished second inthe voting for the Anzac Medal.

Heppell received five votes, while Collingwood's ScottPendlebury won it with eight.

""I ran out and just looked at the stands and tried toabsorb the whole environment. It calmed my nerves from there,"" the modest18-year-old said.

""Obviously very disappointed [we didn't win]. There wasa game to be won and we couldn't get the job done.""

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""But overall I did very much enjoy the experience. Theatmosphere and the whole build-up towards the game was fantastic.""

""Once the first bounce goes up you sort of just easeyour way into the game, but I guess it definitely helped last week playing infront of 75,000 against Carlton,"" Heppell said.

With his family watching on from the stands, Heppell spentmuch of the afternoon trying to quell the impact of Collingwood maestro AlanDidak.

""It was a massive step up,"" he said.

""There was a lot of contested footy. It was veryhard.""

Essendon coach James Hird was full of praise for Heppell'sperformance.

""He was outstanding.""

""He's an amazing kid. He's resilient, he works his backside off, he's notarrogant, he's not ahead of himself in any way and he's playing some terrificfootball,"" Hird said.

Having only been recruited by the Bombers six months ago inthe NAB AFL Draft (he was selected with pick eight), Heppell can hardly believehow well his career is progressing so far.

""I'm loving every minute of it,"" he added.

""It has been a surreal experience, coming in and beingable to play a few games early in the season.""

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