The defender announced yesterday that he will link up with the A-League new boys next season but he is determined to leave Gosford with a bang rather than a whimper.

After setting up home on the Central Coast over the past five years, Heffernan admits the decision was anything but easy.
 
"It's been a while thinking about this one. I see it as a fresh start, a new challenge, and a good opportunity to start with a new franchise and see if we can build the club up to be a good A-League side for the future," said Heffernan.
 
"Because of this group of boys, there's been a lot of them here since the beginning and now with the new boys, it's going to be even harder to leave than it was in the first year.
 
"It's not finished yet, there's a long way to go this season, and we all think we're a really good chance of silverware, so I'm not going to think too much about Melbourne Heart until after the Grand Final now.
 
"They (the fans) supported me even when I broke my leg, and had a few quiet games coming back from injury. They've always been there to support, so I want to thank them for that, and hopefully give them a Grand Final (win) before a couple of us leave."
 
And Heffernan believes the newfound defensive resolve of the Mariners will go a long way to helping achieve that goal.
 
"You've got Brad Porter in there as well who has been doing a great job while Doigy has been out injured."

Heffernan believes the club's coaching staff can take huge credit for perfecting the blend of mean defence at one end and a plethora of goals at the other.

He added: "Overall I think the Gaffer has done well with the shape, and getting men behind the ball, along with (assistant coach) Alex Tobin and (goalkeeping coach) John Crawley's video sessions, organising our defensive shape and where we want to start defending from.
 
"We're defending from the front, and it's whole team which is defending well, but it's great we're scoring goals too."