The Australia squad member agreed terms with the Heart club last month.
"Moving to Melbourne was a football decision,'' he told The Age. ''I felt as though I needed a change and a freshen-up and after speaking to John Didulica [Heart football operations manager] and the boss down there everything seemed like for me a good decision at this time of my career. It wasn't so much a hard sell. It is a step in the dark, but it was the same when I went to the Mariners five years ago. There has been a bit of talk about a change of position [to centre back] as well and it's all a new challenge.''
Heffernen had a difficult time in Germany with Nurnberg, though insists the time in Europe accelerated his development.
''I miss the things we did on a daily basis down there. Training twice a day … we had 14 players who came straight from the World Cup into Nuremberg from all different countries … Czechs, Tunisians, the Aussie contingent.
''I was on the bench for the first two games and ended up dropping out. The left back there had a blinder of a season. Javier Pinola. He was an Argentinian. He was quality. I learned a lot just by watching him.''
