Ricky Dyson - AFL Career

AFL Career

Having played for the Northern Knights in the TAC Cup, Ricky Dyson was taken in the Australian Football League's 2003 National Draft with the overall pick No. 44, by the Essendon Football Club. He made his debut, aged 18, in Round 3 of the 2004 AFL season, when Essendon played the West Coast Eagles at Docklands Stadium on the 10th of April, under coach Kevin Sheedy, and captain James Hird. Dyson initially found himself to be less active in discussion during team meetings, having come into a playing group that had recently won a premiership, and instead preferred to listen. He would go on to play 11 games in his debut season.

Dyson managed to play 10 games in his second season, having been affected by groin soreness. During the pre-season the next year, Dyson was assaulted in Port Melbourne, interrupting his preparation. In addition, he continued to be plagued by groin soreness during the season proper, although he managed to play 10 consecutive games for the first time, finishing the year with 17 games in total. Dyson nonetheless struggled to retain his spot in the senior side, and began to doubt his playing ability as a result.

At the end of the 2007 AFL season, Dyson was offered a three-year contract at the Fremantle Football Club—an offer he reluctantly considered, given the stop-start nature of his career at Essendon. At the same time, Sheedy was replaced as coach of Essendon by Matthew Knights, who had previously coached Essendon's VFL affiliate, the Bendigo Bombers. Knights had frequently bolstered Dyson's confidence whenever he had been dropped from the senior side to play for Bendigo, and told Dyson that he would be a required player at Essendon. Having not particularly wanted to leave Essendon anyway, Dyson agreed to stay and play under Knights.

During 2008, Dyson yet again had his football career interrupted, this time by an appendectomy.

Prior to the Anzac Day clash in 2009, Dyson was dropped from the senior side to instead play for Bendigo. The day before the match he was brought back into the senior side with a late change, replacing the injured Mark McVeigh. Given an opportunity that he would not have had previously, Dyson purely wanted to "play role for the team." He went on to amass 27 disposals, and kicked 2 goals, one of them coming from the boundary line at a critical stage late in the game in what would be his 5th best game statistically over the course of his career to date. Dyson would go on to play every game in Essendon's home-and-away season, as well as the Elimination Final—his first—against Adelaide at Football Park.

The following year, in 2010, Dyson lost the confidence of Knights, making only nine appearances for the year.

In 2011 AFL season, Dyson's former captain James Hird succeeded Knights as senior coach of Essendon. Dyson spent the earlier parts of the season in the VFL playing for Bendigo and was seen as a standout there in the player review at the end of the year. His wait for a call-up to the seniors was a protracted one until he was selected to play against Richmond in Round 16, 11 months after his previous senior appearance.

He played his 100th AFL game in Round 19 against Collingwood at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the 31st of July, aged 25. Dyson was primarily used in 2011 as a running defender who would rotate through the midfield.