Des Healey: Wingman Extraordinaire
Des Healy
Games: 149 Interstate Games: 6 Goals: 35
Collingwood Premiership:1953
Copeland Trophy: 1955
Runner-up Copeland Trophy: 1951, 1954
Third in Copeland Trophy : 1953
Seconds Best and Fairest : 1947
Interstate Representative: 1949, 1953 (carnival)
All-Australian: 1953
Coach under-19s: 1972-77
Life Member
The Collingwood Football Club is delighted to honour Des Healy, one of the finest wingman of his day.
1945 saw the fanatical Collingwood fan, Healy arrive at Victoria Park and the Magpie fans remember him fondly for his dashes, twists and turns. His pace and skills were classy however it was his persistence and patience that enabled him to reach the top.
After an apprenticeship in the seconds for three years Healy finally broke into the senior side. He played every game in 1948 and missed only one in 1949 when he won interstate selection.
With Healy, Thorold Merrett and Bill Twomey, Collingwood had a lethal centre line. Healy was a great mark for his size and dazzled the crowd with his evasive ground work and polished skills. He always had great control of the ball and was the master of the pinpoint pass.
Healy was one of the heroes of Collingwoods famous 1953 Premiership victory and was rated by many as one of the best on the ground that day. He won All-Australian selection in the same year.
Healy worked long and hard perfecting his talent. He often spent extra nights alone on the training track twisting and turning around imaginary opponents at top pace. His unrivalled commitment was inspiration for all.
Essendons great full-forward John Coleman once named Healy as the best wingman he had ever seen. He is clever, has that wonderful tenacity of all good Collingwood players, and is tireless.
Healy had a glittered career at Collingwood however cannot remember his last moments as a League footballer. In the 1955 Grand Final Healy had a sickening collision with Melbournes Frank Adams. They were both stretched off with Healys nose broken in five places and his skull fractured, he never played League football again.
He won the best and fairest that year however his exit was not a triumphant one, no justice for one of the games greatest players.
Des Healy, one of Collingwoods gamest players and a magnificent wingman.
http://www.afl.com.au/Season2007/News/N ... ewsId=7022
Bump that still shocksRegarded by some as the finest wingman in the history of the Collingwood Football Club, Des Healey is probably best remembered today for his seemingly accidental collision with Melbourne's Frank 'Bluey' Adams in the closing minutes of the 1955 VFL grand final. Healey had been one of the Magpies best in a losing side that day, but despite being only twenty-seven he elected never to play again saying "I couldn't stand another blow like that one". Diminutive, pacy and determined, Healey could outmark taller opponents, and his use of the ball, often with his favoured stab pass, was impeccable. He played a total of 149 senior games for Collingwood between 1948 and 1955, and was best afield in the 12 point grand final defeat of Geelong in 1953. That same season saw Healey achieve All Australian selection after the Adelaide carnival. Despite leaving the Woods, and the VFL, in somewhat unfortunate circumstances, he bowed out on a high note by winning the Copeland Trophy as Collingwood's best and fairest player. His omission from Collingwood's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century', selected in July 2002, remains perhaps a tad surprising.
Mike Sheahan | March 20, 2009 12:00am
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/ ... 42,00.htmlIF YOU felt sick at the sight of Chris Judd and Matthew Lloyd banging heads at the MCG last year, old-timers will tell you that was kids' play.
They will assure you there was a similar incident in the 1950s that was far more spectacular and dramatic.
It was the front-on collision between Collingwood's Des Healey and Melbourne's Frank "Bluey" Adams late in the 1955 Grand Final.
Collingwood's champion winger was running towards goal with the ball in what he thought was open space.
Adams, coming off the then reserves' bench, was motoring; powered by the fastest legs in the VFL and the adrenalin built up during more than three quarters on the bench.
Bang. Crash. Two players suddenly motionless on the ground in front of 88,000 people. Both heavily concussed, both headed for hospital.
Healey was so traumatised by the incident, he retired. Finished only a week or two after turning 28. In the year he won Collingwood's famous Copeland Trophy.
He said later: "I couldn't stand another blow like that."
He died on Wednesday at 81.
Adams, 73, was saddened by the news yesterday.
"One of the things I've always felt sorry for Des about is he is remembered for the clash and not for his football," Melbourne's six-time premiership player said.
"He won a Copeland, he played interstate football, he was a part of one of the outstanding centre-lines - Healey, (Bill) Twomey, (Thorold) Merrett.
"Some players are good and other players have got class," he said of Healey.
Healey played 149 games from 1948-55 at 168cm and 68.5kg.
Adams said he barely knew the man who assured him a place in history, but visited him during his recovery.
"I did go and see him at home. His mother-in-law wasn't overly friendly, as I remember, but he was OK," he said.
"At the time, they thought he had a broken nose, but he was in a car accident a few years later and they took X-rays that showed he had suffered a fractured skull."
Adams said he had intended to bump Healey, which was more popular than tackling in those days.
"It was quite a severe knock. He was running reasonably quickly . . . I was at absolute top speed," he said.
"The point of contact was our two heads. It was unfortunate, but, God, it could have been a lot worse. I was out (unconscious) for 35-40 minutes."
In an extraordinary sequel, football's best read journalist of the time, The Herald's Alf Brown, virtually accused Adams of intent.
"I thought at the time it was just another clash on the footy field, but Alf Brown got stuck into me," Adams said.
"He gave me a nice serve. He wrote, 'Adams' action was the most irresponsible one I have seen for years.
"He went straight at Healey as though his only object was to flatten the Collingwood champion. He succeeded spectacularly, but he did not have enough football brains to protect himself'.
"The company I worked for advertised in The Herald and they weren't at all impressed, so they contacted him.
"He begrudgingly wrote another article the next day.
"It was a complete accident. In those days, you could just go off (the ground) wherever you liked.
"Geoff Case came off on the wing in front of the members and our bench was on the other side (Great Southern Stand) that day.
"Just as I was about to run on, Des has got the ball. He's looked up and all he could see was empty space.
"I was going at him to bump him; it probably would have cost me a couple of weeks these days.
"When I got close, I dropped the head, as you do, and just kept going.
"He turned slightly and we just ran into each other.
"The following year, I was injured and missed the first 10 rounds. In my second game, we played out at Collingwood.
"I'd actually forgotten all about the incident, but I remember finding myself 30m in front of our group in the warm-up on the ground.
"All of a sudden, I heard the loudest noise I'd heard in my life.
"They (the Collingwood crowd) thought what happened was deliberate, which it wasn't, of course.
"When the draw came out, you always used to look for two grounds you had to play at: Victoria Park and Glenferrie Oval.
"At Glenferrie Oval, you couldn't get out of the way; at Collingwood, you couldn't hide."
