Dyson Heppell will reach his 100^th game this Saturday night against Port Adelaide.

The Bombers stand-in Captain made his debut in 2011 after being selected by the club with the 8^th pick in the 2010 National Draft.

“It’s certainly snuck up pretty quickly on me,” Heppell said.

“Five years in the system and it goes like that.

“I’m very proud to reach the 100 game mark.”

Heppell quickly established himself as an important member of the Essendon line up.

He played 23 games in his first season and won the AFL’s Rising Star award.

Last season was Heppell’s best in the AFL.

He averaged 28 possessions a game, won the club best and fairest and was selected in the All-Australian side. 

With injuries to a host of key players this season, including midfielders Jobe Watson, David Zaharakis and David Myers, Heppell is getting closer attention from the opposition.

“I’ve played in a different couple of roles over the last five or six weeks - trying to deal with taggers,” Heppell said.

“At stages I’ve been a little bit inconsistent. 

“I put pretty high expectations on myself coming off a year like last year and I probably haven’t hit those standards that I think I did last year.

“We’ve still got a fair bit of footy to play this year and I’m looking forward to finishing the season strongly.”

Heppell will lead the side out on Saturday night to confront a Port Adelaide line-up coming off a narrow loss to Adelaide.

“They played some fantastic footy (against Adelaide), it’s going to be an exciting match-up on Saturday and we’re really looking forward to the challenge,” he said.