DYSON Heppell's outstanding season for Gippsland Power and Vic Country has vaulted the Leongatha lad into top-five consideration at the NAB AFL Draft and he says a desire to simply enjoy his footy is behind his year of high achievement.

Heppell's innate leadership qualities made him a natural choice to captain Gippsland and his performances across half-back and in the midfield earned him the Morrish Medal as the TAC Cup competition's best and fairest player.

It followed his most valuable player award for Vic Country at the under-18 championships.

"I've just really focused on enjoying my football throughout the year," Heppell says.

"I've tried not to get stressed about anything and taken one step at a time and enjoying each step as it comes.

"I think pushing into the midfield in the second half of the year added an extra element to my game. I do enjoy playing off a half-back flank but I think I've got some decent versatility in my game and I'm able to play in a variety of positions which always helps.

"Some really good preparation for games has allowed me to keep my body fit and play some pretty good footy."

But Heppell's coach at the Power, Damian Carroll, feels his skipper might be selling himself a bit short in explaining the basis for his stellar season.

"Dyson missed 10 weeks of pre-season with shin splints and to come off the back of that and have the year he did was truly remarkable," Carroll says.

"He hired his own sprint coach, he tried to work on a couple of other deficiencies and really willed himself to have that sort of a standout season.

"He's just so professional with his preparation and the way he presents himself with his body. He doesn't leave any stone unturned and that's obviously a great lesson for the other young players at our club.

"He seemed to get better as the season went on and that's not easy coming back from the nationals.

"I think his strength and character of mind was really there to come back and play well for us."

Heppell dispelled any lingering doubts over his ability with an excellent performance at the recent draft combine in Canberra, where speed and endurance are highly-coveted commodities.

"I was very happy with my testing, especially with the speed element," he says of the meeting that also saw him post a 14.13 beep test, finish equal-first in the clean hands test and rank inside the top 10 in both vertical jumps.

"My speed has been fairly criticised to a certain degree, but I managed to break three seconds over the 20m sprint so I was really happy with that."

But while his combine testing may have allayed a few minor concerns about his game, Heppell was at the forefront of most recruiters' minds from early in the season.

"It's obviously become clear that he's going to be in the top 10 picks and it's just a matter of where he's actually going," Carroll says.

"That's probably been on the cards for a little bit of time now, but he never wavered from his work rate, his effort and his ability to play well on match day.

"He's probably the standout player I've coached at TAC Cup level over the last two years with his professionalism, leadership and all-round football ability. I think he's going to be a great pick-up for anyone who takes him. I couldn't endorse him more highly.

"He's a great kid and he's so thoughtful as well. I remember when we won the preliminary final against Oakleigh, he led the song with the players, but he actually made sure all the staff were part of the song as well."

With clubs from outside Victoria holding the first five picks at the draft, there's every chance Heppell will realise his AFL dream in a West Coast or Brisbane Lions guernsey.

While he's comfortable with that idea, he's not about to get too far ahead of himself.

"It's been a very exciting year, very enjoyable, and we've had some great success with Gippsland Power and Vic Country," he says.

"I made a lot of great new friendships at the carnival and it was a fantastic experience playing against the best young kids in Australia.

"It's all very exciting and you do look ahead and see what might be. It's hard to actually see yourself on an AFL list, so it is a very exciting time."

Follow our complete coverage of the 2010 NAB AFL Draft on November 18. Join the AFL draft conversation on Twitter: use #AFLdraft in your tweets.