Australian Football

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Key Facts

Full name
Gerard Healy

Known as
Gerard Healy

Born
1 March 1961 (age 63)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 18y 37d
Last game: 29y 135d

Height and weight
Height: 184 cm
Weight: 81 kg

Senior clubs
Melbourne; Australia; Sydney

Jumper numbers
Melbourne: 39, 3
Sydney: 3

Recruited from
Melbourne (1986)

Family links
Greg Healy (Brother)

Gerard Healy

ClubLeagueCareer spanGamesGoalsAvgWin %AKIAHBAMKBV
MelbourneV/AFL1979-19851301891.4532%13.295.384.1914
AustraliaIR1984, 19864
SydneyV/AFL1986-199081871.0753%16.789.623.6439
V/AFL1979-19902112761.3140%14.637.003.9853
IR1984, 19864
Total1979-19902152761.28

AFL: 9,056th player to appear, 550th most games played, 234th most goals kickedMelbourne: 993rd player to appear, 106th most games played, 29th most goals kickedSydney: 1,151st player to appear, 190th most games played, 82nd most goals kicked

Almost the quintessential all round footballer, there have been few better sights in the game's history than Gerard Healy at the peak of his form. Originally from Edithvale-Aspendale, Healy joined Melbourne in 1979 and, with his pace, tremendous ball skills, and uncanny ability to be at the fall of the ball, immediately stamped himself as a star of the future. Healy played 130 VFL games for the Demons, winning a club best and fairest award in 1984, and booting 77 goals in 1982 to top the club's goal kicking list.

After crossing to Sydney in 1986 Healy blossomed still further as a player, and his Brownlow Medal win in 1988 was both popular and well earned. Healy's excellence was emphasised by his winning three successive Swans best and fairest awards at a time when the club was very much at the forefront of the game. Healy also achieved All Australian selection in 1986-7-8 and, in the view of many, was without peer at the time as an attacking on-baller who knew where the goals were (he booted 276 goals in 211 league games). Indeed, according to Russell Holmesby and Jim Main, Gerard Healy "was generally considered to personify the best attributes of the 1980s footballer".¹

Thanks to a chronic wrist injury, Healy's league career ended more or less as soon as the 1980s were over; he retired, aged just 29, in 1990. In 2003 he was selected on a half forward flank in Sydney/South Melbourne's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'.

Author - John Devaney

Footnotes

1. The Encyclopedia Of AFL Footballers by Russell Holmesby and Jim Main, page 309.

Sources

Full Points Footy Publications

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.