Ricky Dyson

Ricky Dyson (born 28 September 1985) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Originally from the Epping Football Club, and drafted at number 44 in the 2003 National Draft, Dyson played mainly as a midfielder.

AFL career Having played for the Northern Knights in the TAC Cup, Dyson was taken in the 2003 National Draft with pick No. 44 by Essendon. He made his debut, aged 18, in round 3 of the 2004 AFL season, when Essendon played the West Coast Eagles at Docklands Stadium. 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.

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 in round 16, 11 months after his previous senior appearance. Dyson was primarily used in 2011 as a running defender who would rotate through the midfield. but a guilty verdict was returned in January 2016 after an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency. He was suspended for two years which, with backdating, ended in November 2016; as a result, he served approximately fourteen months of his suspension and missed the entire 2016 suburban football season.

Personal life For several years Dyson participated in Essendon's "On the Ball" program, which involved him and teammate Brent Prismall, as well as netball players Shelley O'Donnell and Bianca Chatfield, meeting with school groups and educating them on issues such as drug use and sports. Dyson took a year off from the program in 2008 to study and complete a personal training course.

Statistics

114 43 36 1050 697 1747 373 212 0.4 0.3 9.2 6.1 15.3 3.3 1.9