Debut: Round 4, 1990 v Carlton
Games: 156
Achievements: Premiership player 1992, 1994; top 10 in Club Champion Award twice; selected in West Coast Eagles Team of the Decade and Team 20
One of the great drafting coups of all time, Heady was snared at selection 92 in the 1989 ballot – a lottery which also secured his close friend Dean Kemp at No.117.
A fearless half-forward, Heady’s career was cut short because of his selfless attitude, often flying in the face of oncoming packs with no regard for his own safety.
A brilliant aerialist, he also did as much as any player to establish the club’s early supremacy over Fremantle and was a noted big-game player.
Heady played a key role in the 1992 grand final when swung from attack into the midfield just after half-time where he dominated and started to pump the ball consistently inside his team’s attacking 50-metre arc.
Famously – or should that be infamously – Heady was flattened by Footscray’s Steve Wallis just before half-time in a 1994 clash at Subiaco Oval, on the eve of the finals.
The incident triggered an all-in brawl and when those involved dispersed, Peter Sumich, who had blacked out after being held in a headlock by Danny Southern, was left prostrate on the ground.
