Australian Football

Henry Richard Head, better known as 'Dick', made his West Adelaide debut in 1906, and by the following season was being listed among the best players after virtually every match. An excellent mark and a superb kick, he covered so much ground during the course of a game that he “was worth three ordinary men”.¹

At the age of 22, Head was awarded the 1909 Magarey Medal. The following year he was appointed West’s vice-captain, and in 1913 he assumed the captaincy. A member of South Australia's victorious carnival side of 1911, he was state captain in 1913. Arguably his best season in league football was 1915 when, in a middle of the road West team, he was voted the best all round player in South Australia by readers of the ‘"Football Budget".

After a break for the war, Head was back with Westies in 1919, and although he was a touch slower than in his heyday his name still appeared frequently on the best player lists. At the end of the 1920 season he left West and joined Sturt, but managed only four games there before calling it a day. 

The 1922 season saw him appointed non-playing coach of Glenelg but he actually felt constrained to don the boots again midway through the season in a futile effort to bolster the side’s fortunes. A total of seven games with Glenelg took his final tally of league games to 167 in 15 seasons, and he kicked a total of 22 goals; he also represented South Australia an impressive total of 14 times during an era when competition for places was arguably as intense as at any stage in the twentieth century.

Author - John Devaney